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75As for the story, it's in some ways inevitable, but it has enough barbs and curves to keep it new. The smartest touch is that the young lawyer is, as a moral entity, a work in progress.
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Feb 14, 201370Though Mr. Hsia, a television alumnus who also wrote the script, has created a somewhat predictable story infused with stereotypes old and new, he gains mileage from light humor, buoyant energy and some appealing performers.
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60Hsia has an appealingly slick visual style for the fast-paced if predictable turns in Sam's story, shooting the gleaming, bustling Shanghai as if it had finally earned its big-Hollywood-romantic-comedy stripes as a setting for the usual fish-out-of-water jokes, broad humor, meet-cutes, silly coincidences and happy endings.
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50At its best, Shanghai Calling is mildly diverting.
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50As the narrative builds, the movie shows how the harassed and impatient Chinese-American finds tolerance, acceptance of others, inner salvation and love. A lot for one movie to negotiate, not always successfully, but the enjoyment factor is obvious.
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40The movie wants to say something significant about the excitement and alienation of life in a strange — which is to say, new — place. The film never gets there, but its aims are honorable, and the lovingly shot Shanghai scenery does enhance the trip.
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Feb 13, 201338If you prefer your social commentary in the form of a glorified sitcom with broad humor and even broader caricatures, look no further.
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20Shanghai Calling eventually reveals itself to be just another stale tale about the virtue of morality over ambition.
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Feb 12, 201320Through it all, Henney is an appealing screen presence, but he’s trapped in a movie that puts regurgitated sitcom shtick and regional economic boosterism ahead of character and humor.