User reviews

Version: Columbia/Tristar DVD, Cantonese with English subtitles

A somewhat different offering from Jackie Chan in 'Gorgeous'. Bu (Shu Qi) is bored in Taiwan, and after reading a message in a bottle, she goes to Hong Kong to search out a mysterious stranger (Tony Leung), who turn out to be not be exactly what she expected. Eventually she meets C.N. Chan (Jackie) and grows close to him. Meanwhile, Bu's fiancée is looking for her and Jackie has troubles with Lo (Emil Chau), a childhood friend and now business rival.

I have to admit that I enjoyed this, even though romantic-comedies aren't really my thing. It isn't your usual Jackie Chan-style, but if he wants to try something different, then I will gladly support him. I found 'Gorgeous' funny, although others will disagree. There isn't much action, but when there is, it is excellent. The two fight scenes with Brad Allan are some of the best fight-scenes Jackie has ever filmed. They really are incredible, but in the end, this really is more of a 'feel good' movie than anything else.

Apparently the version I have is cut by 20 minutes, missing a cameo Stephen Chow. Damn. Stephen Chow is cool.

'Gorgeous' isn't for everyone - fans of the Chan-man should check it out, but I'm not guaranteeing you'll enjoy it as much I did. 7/10

In a fishing village in Taiwan, the dreamer Bu (Shu Qi) loves fairy tales and has just been proposed by the fish man Louie. However, her dolphin finds a bottle with a love message inside and the romantic Bu decides to seek out the author Albert (Tony Leung) in Hong Kong. However she is frustrated when she discovers that Albert is gay and the message is for his former boyfriend. Meanwhile, the millionaire and wolf broker C.N. Chan (Jackie Chan), who owns a recycling company, has a serious love and business competition with the businessman Howie Lo (Emil Chau) since they were students. Bu witnesses Lo's bodyguards hitting Chan and she helps him with her boat. They have an accident and spend the night together in a small island. On the next morning, Chan brings Bu to his fancy apartment and she does not give her true name to him. Bu also plots a scheme with Albert to lure Chan to become her boyfriend. Meanwhile Howie hires a skilled fighter to beat and humiliate Chan. Will Bu succeed in her intent?

"Boh lei chun", a.k.a. "Gorgëous", is a delightful romantic adventure with a silly but entertaining story and perfect chemistry between Jackie Chan and Shu Qi. The fight choreography is another attraction of this film. The moral value of the fights between Bradley James Allan and Jackie Chan is another important point in this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Grande Desafio" ("The Great Challenge")

If all you want is an action movie in the Jackie Chan tradition, you may not like this one. It is instead a romantic comedy, which I will admit not too many Jackie fans will be expecting.

I, however, applaud the fact that he branches out from the typical comedic chop-socky formula in this one. I think it would be terrible as an actor to endlessly have to come up with new "they done me wrong, so I gotta beat 'em up" plots for movies. So all you folks who just want to see amazing stunts and so on, I would advise that you watch something else.

This movie does not contain much in the way of stunts, or even fight scenes. However, it does contain a couple of comedic fights with the Four Stooges of henchmen, which might elicit a chuckle or two. It also contains two fights with Bradley James Allan, which are fought within spaces about the size of a boxing ring, and with only walls to run up and do backflips off, as far as the acrobatics go. However, these are amazing fights, especially the last one, because with Brad, Jackie doesn't have to slow down. So it is blazing fists a-flying, and some of the best toe-to-toe single opponent action you will see in any Jackie movie. And I don't think they contained any wire work at all. Just straight honest action. Somewhat ironically, one part of the last fight with Brad was the only part of the movie I got a full belly laugh out of.

Admittedly, this is kind of an odd movie, but as long as you approach it in the right frame of mind, I think you might enjoy it. Maybe think of it as a chick flick with some Jackie Chan action thrown in. This would be a great one to watch, for instance, with a girlfriend who doesn't usually like martial arts movies. It has both action and touching moments. And after she sees this one, you may persuade her to watch some of the real Chan actioners with you. :)

Well for a start this movie is underrated. I don't think that an average rating of 5.4 justifies how good this movie really is.

This is the first movie that i have ever seen that uses comedy, romance, and martial arts to such a good effect in a movie. Sure, there are other Jackie Chan films with hints of romance, and there is always lots of fun and excitement, but this movie is different, because unlike a lot of his other movies, this one is based on a romantic story, yet still has a lot of great martial arts and some laughs to offer its audience.

What makes this such a great movie for me is that the choreography for the fighting I thought was excellent. The romantic storyline is simple yet effective. It is an easy movie to to watch and enjoy.

Now the rating.... a lot of people probably thought this was going to be an action packed movie. Now there is quite a lot of action considering this movie was intended to be a romance/comedy. It just proves that Jackie Chan can pull off a romantic comedy really well.

I say kudos to Jackie for trying to expand his range a little bit, especially after having so much success over the years using the same formula. For once Jackie gets to act a little bit and play a role other than a cop/new kid in town/martial artist whose father/brother/girlfriend was kidnapped/murdered/disgraced. Sure, it's not high drama, but it is a very touching romantic comedy.

Jackie plays a wealthy businessman who is so wrapped up in his work that he has forgotten how to take time to enjoy what he has earned. Bu (Qi Shu) is a starry-eyed romantic who tries to help him remember. Mixing things up a bit is Chan's less scrupulous rival Lo, played by Emil Chau.

This rivalry serves to shoehorn a couple of fight scenes into the movie, and while I did really enjoy them (I like seeing Jackie in a good one-on-one matchup once in a while) they're really secondary to the plot of the movie. They're definitely worth seeing, though. Set up as elaborate boxing matches, they're a bit more realistic than most of his scenes.

I enjoyed this movie quite a lot and would love to see Jackie do some more like it. After all, we have to admit that Jackie is getting up there in age. While he's still just as amazing as ever, why not give him a break from being pushed through windows and dragged behind trucks once in a while?

Confusing movie. It's a love story action and comedy in one piece, in a very Jackie way. I was looking at it and thought to myself, wow It's rocky meets notting hill Jackie Style. The fights with Brad Allen are cool and the rest of the fights are funny. The girl that's on Jackie's to do list is very cute! Also a nice performance by that guy that plays a gay, he's really popular and famous I think, but I forgot his name. The fights with Brad Allen (together with the brilliant comedy of the Henchmen) highlighted this movie for me. It seems that they used wires and sped it up a bit, but it's awesome none the less. Keep your eyes on Brad Allen's feet. His footwork is awesome!

I was not expecting a movie like this at all from Jackie Chan. After 30 or 40 minutes passed with no fight scenes I started getting antsy. The second half of the movie redeemed itself though with 2 amazing kung fu spectacles that still boggle my mind weeks and months later. In retrospect this is a very good movie - and the romantic angle was done really well and in a decent and sweet fashion - no one night stand sex scenes ala the rest of Hollywood - this was much more sincere than that. The guy playing Alan is a tremendous performer and should be given a chance for more starring roles, he stole the show from Chan in both scenes. Worth 10 bucks or so just for the fight scenes, and the rest of the movie ain't so bad either. :)

Not the greatest Jackie movie but it's pretty cute....That's all really, no more, no less. It's definitely funny though, with the always cool Tony Leung in a good part. And this Shu Qi is, well, GORGEOUS....but the problem is I didn't really sense much chemistry between this very young woman, and the much older Jackie. All, in all though, it's pleasant, and this Brad Allan guy really is good in a fight.

A few days back, I realised that this was one of a very few Jackie Chan films that I hadn't seen before, so I decided 'to right the wrong' and watch it, because I'm a big fan. The romance part didn't scare me off initially, because I knew it was also an action film, so it had to be fun, right? Wrong! I didn't expect it to be so bad. I only give this 2 out of 10, because Jackie never disappoints. But I literally had nothing else to enjoy about this nerve grating film! It wasn't worth two hours (it felt like very long two hours).

The main heroine is an annoying, obnoxiously loud Mary Sue who can speak with dolphins and suddenly knows how to drive a motor boat. I don't know how old she's supposed to be, but she acts like a 10-12 y.o. At best. I honestly don't understand how that's supposed to be 'adorable'. It's funny that she accuses her suitor back at home of being immature. It doesn't help that the two main characters have zero chemistry either.

I wish someone just made a montage of action scenes (this film has very few of them anyway), because I honestly wouldn't bother with anything else.

This is a Jackie Chan movie with a difference, it is also a romantic film. The same Jackie trademarks are exhibited, the action scenes and the humour, but the romantic angle is fuller than in his other films. The storyline is based on an old concept, a message in a bottle, but updated. The characters are well chosen and believable. The action scenes are up to Jackies usual standard with plenty of humour mixed in. I really enjoyed this movie as it caters for all the included genres equally. For those who enjoy purely action films stick to Bruce Lee or John Woo. It was not the best romantic comedy I have ever seen, but this is one of the best films that span several genres in equal amounts. Awarded an 8 but perhaps should have been a 9 for its successful mix of styles.

'Gorgeous' tries to mix two plots, a trite love story and a rivalry between businessmen. Unfortunately, the film focuses on the love story, and while it is okay for the Disney crowd the story is just too cliched and saccharine. The redeeming features of the movie are the 2 one-on-one fights between Jackie Chan and Brad Allan. Both fight scenes are close to 10 minutes long each and are truly amazing. Not the usual Jackie Chan prop-filled acrobatics, but simply back and forth kick-boxing sparring. Both fighters move to a wonderfully infectious musical score, particularly in their second fight where the "bad guy's" flunkies can be seen in the background bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the fight. Hilarious! I watch those two scenes over and over. Brad Allan is incredibly fast and has incredible poise. If he were a foot taller, he could be a Major action star. As it is, he is very credible as the "out of town" fighter brought in to fight Jackie.

Watch the movie once but savour the fight scenes on repeated viewings.

Review: I have seen some bad movies starring Jackie Chan lately but this one has to be the worst. The silly storyline and mediocre action scenes were terribly put together by the director and it really felt like he was making it up as he was going along. Anyway, while Bu (Shi Qi) is chatting to a dolphin in her small fishing village, she comes across a message in a bottle signed "Albert" and then she sets off to Hong Kong to look for him. REALLY! When she finally finds Albert, he actually turns out to be gay and he says that he sent the message to his boyfriend. As she travelled so far, he decides to let her tag along while he takes photos of models on a boat were she witnesses the dashing, rich Jackie Chan on a boat being attacked by hit men. She then realises that she has skills to drive a boat and she rushes to his rescue. For some unknown reason, she lies about who she is and she says that she is a refuge so CN Chan (Jackie Chan) takes her to his mansion and let's her stay with him. He soon falls for her gullible but sweet nature and you can clearly see that she likes him too but she leaves his house and goes back to were she originally was staying. Chans long time school friend, who is actually his arch rival in the stock market world, sends out his goons to beat up Chan because he wants to prove whose the best, which seemed a bit stupid to me. Anyway, the girl soon realises that she has fallen for Chan and she goes out of her way to meet up with him again. Whilst fighting off various goons and looking after his investments on the stock market, Chan also longs to meet up with her again because she brought some joy to his, somewhat, secluded life. Basically, they are destined to be together! The young girl, who played he main character, got on my nerves right from the very beginning but I liked seeing a debonair Chan, even though the storyline was ridiculous. The action scenes didn't really make any sense and the rivalry between to two school friends who fell out with each other because of a girl, was also badly written. I don't understand why the girl had to lie about her past because she really didn't have any reason to. At the end of the day, I honestly think that this film was a waste of time and money but on the plus side, you do get to see a romantic side to Chan which proves that he's not all about the action. Terrible!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Vincent Kok, 50, who also brought you Dragon Reloaded, Marry A Rich Man, Forbidden City Cop and Only Fool's Fall In Love, the Oriental version. I personally think that he made a right mess of this movie but it might have worked for the audiences overseas. I'm yet to understand there sense of humour, from a movie point of view and after watching this movie, there romantic movies are also questionable. I shouldn't use this movie to tarnish the Oriental market with the same brush but I really didn't get it. Hopefully, the next movie that I watch from Jackie Chan is much better.

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK$40,545,889

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/drama/martial arts/comedies starring and written by Jackie Chan. 1/10

This movie is not like other Jackie Chan movies,this movie concentrates more on the story and romance,rather than the fighting. It still has one really cool fight scene. I enjoyed this movie even though it was different,it got lots of humor and some romantic moments.

If you are looking for lots of fight scenes then this movie is not your first pic,but if you would like to see Jackie Chan in a different role,then this is the movie for you.

Jackie Chan may be getting on a bit, and to be honest, probably too old for the character he plays, but this was a refreshing break from his usual all-action, all-kicking genre that is his own. In fact it is very strange to see Chan in a mainly acting role, where the two main kung fu scenes seem a little out of place. But as for the story, it is quite funny as Chan lets out his usual charm, and Qi Shu plays a brilliant Bu (even I could have fallen in love with her character).

But otherwise, there's nothing that is really that extraordinary or special. But the main criticism is that the male lead was not really suited to Chan and I would guess that another actor would have been able to add a little more personality to the character. But certainly it was well worth a watch.

The movies weak points have been well explained by other's so far. I want to mention what a great job the Australian Brad Allen does. Not only does he steal the show from Chan during the fight scenes (despite the fact that he is six inches shorter) but his acting is actually pretty good as well! Allen has been on Chan's stunt team for awhile, kudos to Chan for giving him a chance in the spotlight.

If you are looking for a Jackie Chan action flick to watch, look elsewhere.

This is a love story, and there is no chemistry between the two main actors. There is a fight seen in the end which was added in to satisfy Jackie Chan fans. Even the fight seen was kind of uninspired.

A May-December romance starring Jackie Chan - yes, please! I've seen a lot of his movies, but I've never seen him in this type of role before: a wealthy, aloof businessman who finds unexpected charm and enjoyment from a much younger girl. Although it's not the greatest moment for his fans to see him get beaten in a fight, then lament that he's no longer in shape, it's a sure bet that later in the movie (the very next scene, in fact), he'll got into training in his impressive home gym.

Shu Qi, the young girl, is sweet though extremely immature. But what do you expect? She was only twenty-three years old, and her character was probably supposed to be even younger. She finds a message in a bottle off the pier where she lives in Taiwan, and thinking it's romantic, she travels to Hong Kong to find the sender of the message. Far fetched, yes, but she does find him; it turns out he's a gay model. While attending a yacht party full of flamboyant models, she sees Jackie Chan on a neighboring yacht and falls in love with him. To keep the older, exciting, worldly wise man interested, she lies to him and pretends she's a gangster's moll with tons of experience.

There's an element of fantasy to this movie, since explanations of common questions are never answered. When Shu runs away from home, her parents never worry or try to find her. Jackie invites her to stay in his apartment, even though she's a total stranger and very silly. If he's a businessman, why does a rival seek to beat him in combat rather than at the bank? Just expect a little filter of implausibility and settle in for the romance. It's very cute; and I love the way he looks at her, like he wishes he met her twenty years earlier but knows he wouldn't have been ready to appreciate her. What a lucky girl, snagging a cute millionaire with healthy eating habits and a great body - or does she snag him? Will the age gap prove too much, or will they naturally outgrow one another? You'll have to watch this unexpected movie to find out.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. During the boxing match, when Jackie and Bradley James Allen both get cross-eyed, the screen blurs out into double vision for about ten seconds, and it will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

'Gorgeous' is not your typical Jackie Chan movie, sure, it has comedy and some action, but in most part it is a 100% pure romantic comedy. After filming 'Rush Hour' Jackie Chan turned back to Hong Kong to do something different from most of his filmography. He had long desired to tackle a more dramatic role, so he became romantic lead in a project he was first set to only produce.

Young and naive Taiwanese girl Bu (Qi Shu) picks up a message in a bottle that inspires her to travel to Hong Kong to find the guy who wrote the message. She accidentally meets wealthy businessman C.N. (Jacki Chan) with playboy reputation. Mixed personalities, little lies growing bigger, misunderstandings and misadventures and lot more that goes with the romantic comedy genre. There are couple of fight scenes, but these are not quite usual Jackie Chan stuff where he sends a guy cartwheeling out of the window with loaf of bread. There are no real wish of harm or revenge behind the action sequences. Even the main 'villian' (Bradley James Allan) is not quite villian, but just competetive fighter who wants to have a fight with the best. In both main fights between Jackie and Allan, they both wear gloves and repeat 'no dirty tricks'.

Very different from usual Jackie Chan stuff, but still very entertaining. Some cliches but not much of the usual romantic stickiness. 'Gorgeous' is definitely worth your time if you are the fan of Jackie Chan.

After having enjoyed so many of Jackie's films my boyfriend and I found this to be extremely disappointing. He didn't even dub his own voice into the movie, which is just ridiculous. For those of us in America we know what he sounds like so it just lessens the film. The action was minimal at best. And the people who did the dubbing overacted making it seem cheesy and trite. The story was good if only they hadn't messed it up with all the voices and bad scenes. The bad guys were like watching "The Three Stooges". I was very disappointed.

After Rush Hour, Jackie went back to Hong Kong to try his hand at something different. What it turned out to be was the romantic comedy Gorgeous. Jackie said this would probably never get shown in the States because it was too Asian for a western audience, but Columbia TriStar picked it up and I bought it when it was priced to buy. I thought it was a good story with a few good fight scenes, but the dubbing was awful. The voices were all overplayed and Jackie didn't use his own voice for this one. Bradley James Allan makes a huge splash in the fight scenes he's in with Jackie. Shu Qi is great as the innocent and childlike Bu, as she sees everything as a fairy tale. I think the reason a lot of people didn't like this one was because Columbia TriStar hyped it up as an action flick, rather than a romantic comedy. Even the back of the video box makes it out to be a action piece. I knew long before I saw it that it was different, so I knew what I was getting into.

I got the Hong Kong DVD of this movie today and it was much better. There is more detail to the story rather than the story jumping around like it does in the U.S. edit. The DVD also has lots of features on it. These features include a trailer, an interview with Jackie and director Vincent Kok, a making of featurette (where Jackie states he enjoyed making it more than Rush Hour), and the music video to the song from the film (Two versions actually, Cantonese and Mandarin).

Of course this will never be as good as his other movies like Police Story or Who Am I?, but I give him credit for trying something different. It worked well for me and had enough fight scenes in it to amuse me.

This movie was garbage. Usually Jackie Chan movies are good but this one is bad. I didn't even enjoy or like the movie at all. 1 bad jackie chan film out of 100 excellent ones are not bad at all. All you had was 10 minutes of mayhem(action, violence). Even some of the fight scenes in that movie didn't have a very good plot setup. They were treated as if they were just kidding, joking and playing around instead of having a fun time defending yourself from the bad guys. The romance(lovestory) scenes were so bad that even a 5 year old kid would hate it. When the boxer came in it really destroyed and took the available plot from this movie. The lovestory scenes are way to overproduced. The background music for the romance is so long and it lasts for days, someone help me. Next time they can replace them with carchase scenes and maybe a building falling down. Jackie Chan should stick to the movies that he is good at such as mayhem(Operation Condor, Rush Hour 1&2, Supercop). If you like romance movies then go see Titanic 10 times, that is much better than that disgusting garbage. THANK GOD OUR WORLD FINALLY HAS DVDs. Because when the beyond bad love story scenes(every single romance scene) comes up then get your DVD converter and fast forward it to the only available mayhem. Jackie Chan wanted to try something different just like ARNIE, but he just realized that he is not good at LOVESTORY movies. This is the worst martial arts filmed I had ever scene in my whole entire f----ing life. This is the only Jackie Chan movie to avoid. Even the fight scenes were not enough to get this film out of the terrible, beyond bad abyss.

1.0/10 I gave it one just for Chan being in the movie.