10/25/15

Finding Mr. Right

A few months ago I helped a couple from Hong Kong find the Chihuly Glass Museum at Seattle Center. They had come to Seattle because the wife was bitten by the Seattle Bug. She was one of millions of Chinese who made the award-winning "Bei Jing yu shang Xi Ya Tu" (English captions) one of the highest-grossing romances in Chinese history. Naturally I was curious, so I got my own copy as soon as I could spot it in the catalogs. The one I have is in Region 3 format, but the Blu-Ray comes in Region 1.

I soon became intrigued by Jiajia, a city girl from Beijing, come to Seattle to bear an American-born son for her wealthy, MARRIED, boyfriend back in China. She picked Seattle because "Sleepless in Seattle" is her favorite film of all time; she has an unlimited credit card and an imperious attitude. She has made plans to stay in a private home with two other Asian women awaiting the births of their babies. With establishing shots of Seattle (the rest filmed in Vancouver, BC), I enjoyed seeing our waterfront, Macy's with the Christmas star, and of course, our iconic Space Needle.

First we meet Frank, the fellow who had been assigned the task of bringing her in from the airport (he's a bit late); he is polite, hard working and self-effacing. Soon we meet her Seattle landlady, the two other women, Frank's tween-age daughter, his wife and the doctor Jiajia has selected simply because she speaks Chinese. Jiajia is rude, demanding and selfish.

As her fortunes wax and wane in this sweet romantic comedy, so do her relationships. I became invested in the outcome and was happy I bought this DVD. The first part is difficult to watch simply because she is such a pill, but when she hits a speed bump, the story gains traction.

There is no rating, but in my opinion this would be a solid PG-13. I recall no profanity, no vehicular mayhem, no gunfire and no blowie uppie stuff. A sweet clichéd ending guarantees that a good time is had by all!