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Saving Face
User Score
8.6 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16

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  1. krisl
    Nov 1, 2005
    10
    One of the best movies i've seen in a long time. although it's a fictional film, i too can relate to Wil and her relationship with her mother. it is all too common for a dutiful daughter to carry so much weight of secrets on her shoulder. a must see film. MIchelle Krusiec plays a very convincing Wil and Joan Chen stepped out of her usual character to play a convincing Ma. and what can i say about Lynn Chen except that she's gorgeous and hot. it had a great overall cast and it's just a really fun film to watch.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. huil.
    May 26, 2005
    10
    A realistic portrayal of what it's like to be Chinese American in Queens.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. pattyw.
    May 24, 2005
    10
    Well written, directed, and acted - and probably my favorite film ever.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. christinep.
    May 25, 2005
    10
    Finally...a film with characters I can actually relate to.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. robp.
    May 25, 2005
    10
    Hot lesbian chicks.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. Rockstar
    Jul 22, 2005
    10
    Great romantic comedy! Would definitely watch it again.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. ChadS.
    Sep 11, 2005
    6
    If your actresses are willing to bare their bodies, as Michelle Krusiec(Wil) and Lynn Chen(Vivian) do in "Saving Face", the filmmaker has a responsibility to put them in a film that matches the honesty of their lovemaking. The patriarchal figure that controls Ma's life is so unrelenting in his old country ways, his change of heart that comes late in the film is hard to swallow. Ma(Joan Chen) is pregnant, and her father's reaction to the news suggests that his daughter was sixteen, and not forty-eight. If the old man is going to be perturbed by those circumstances, how are we expected to believe that he'd accept the truth about his daughter's suitor, and granddaughter's orientation? The love scene belongs in a movie that seriously examines how the children of foreigners are hurt by the hegemony of old country values over western modernity, instead of a sometimes cute comedy that is by no means difficult to watch.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. MariaD.
    Nov 1, 2005
    10
    This is the best Chines made movie ever. Very up close , very personal. Very deep, very funny, very intellectual.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. TechaiD.
    Oct 22, 2005
    4
    Saving Face was just the Asian soap opera drama put into a movie format. So they tried to make it more tantilizing via the lesbian thing, it is nothing new, just the same cultural lessons recycled. Very bland and unsatisfying as entertainment.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. MarcK.
    Dec 26, 2005
    8
    I was hesitant to see this in the movies, as it was marketed as a Chinese-American Lesbian Comedy. However, "Saving Face" is so much more than that. It was just a very unique perspective on relationships, not just between lovers, but with family. It reminded me a little of an Amy Tan book, and I mean that as a compliment. Also, parts of this film reminded me of "Kissing Jessica Stein," but I haven't seen anyone point that out yet. And yes, as a poster noted below, Lynn Chen is very hot.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. [Anonymous]
    Jun 12, 2005
    8
    Satisfying film, better than most mass market, should be seen by teens, probably won't be.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. Donnie
    Jul 11, 2005
    8
    Good movie, but what's with the boom mic?
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. MarkB.
    Aug 15, 2005
    6
    What a difference "sleeping on" a film occasionally makes! While I was sitting in the theater watching Alice Wu's cross-cultural mother-daughter romantic comedy, I was more or less thoroughly enjoying the two-and-three-quarters-dimensional, mostly sympathetic lead characters, the inside observations on a culture and set of family traditions that I have very little personal knowledge of, and many of Wu's comic situations and set-ups (my favorite: the mom searching out a Chinese film--ANY Chinese film--at a video store; her choices are predictably and hilariously limited, but I'm surprised there weren't a couple of Bruce Lee kung-fu epics in there. Maybe they were rented out!) The film's title is a Chinese cultural reference to NOT embarrassing oneself or one's family socially; both mother (Joan Chen) and daughter Wilhelmina (Michelle Krusiec) risk doing just that and more because Wil, a lesbian, finds True Love for the first time...and Ma's pregnant! And a couple days later, it occurred to me: during the matchmaking dinners, a series of disastrous dates Ma embarks on in an effort to quickly find a husband and father for her newborn-to-be, and in a climactic incident I won't spoil, Saving Face comes off like a gender-reversed Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo. Men who are in Wu's view too old, too socially awkward or don't look like Asian GQ cover models are endless targets of cheap comic derision; ultimately, the film appears to be saying that only the young and/or beautiful deserve to love or be loved, regardless of how much kindness, decency, gentleness or other compensating virtues a less-than-stellar-looking man might possess plenty of. I mean, if I really want to watch material that communicates this, I'll wait and buy the first season of Average Joe on DVD. (And don't tell me how much the gorgeous Joan Chen "plained herself down" to play the mother; if I end up looking one-fifth that good by the time I hit my 50s, I'll be eternally grateful!) The one characteristic that romantic comedies and horror films share is that it's much, much easier to make a bad example of either than a good one; I still had a good time with Saving Face, and it's still infinitely preferable to Must Love Dogs or The Wedding Date, but the belated sour taste it left in my mouth relegates it to the category occupied by such recent efforts as Hitch and A Lot Like Love: romcoms that, as M*A*S*H's original Trapper John (Elliott Gould), described a martini without an olive: "(don't) quite...make it."… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
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Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Robert K. Elder
    75
    Younger viewers might be annoyed with Saving Face for not being more in-your-face progressive and edgy. Older audiences will be happy that it's not.
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  2. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Eric Campos
    90
    Thought provoking and brimming with charm, match that with an infectious sense of humor and outstanding performances.
    Read full review
  3. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Duane Byrge
    80
    A juicy Chinese-American romance about preserving "face" at the sacrifice of your whole being. This Sony Pictures Classics release is a comic gem.
    Read full review
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