Dry Wood Fierce Fire 《乾柴烈火》 (2002), Louis Koo, Miriam Yeung, Flora Chan, Wyman Wong Options

[Jinkst]

a review from ... kozo ... at lovehkfilm.com

While sometimes forced and a little clumsy, this ultra-light romantic comedy features an amiable comic tone and a fun pairing of Miriam Yeung and Louis Koo. It's not up to director Wilson Yip's best work, but it doesn't really try to be.

Review
by Kozo: The comparison was inevitable. Both are cute, suddenly bankable female popstars with successful singing careers, and both have made romantic comedy their genre of choice. However, Miriam Yeung and Sammi Cheng are not clones of one another. If anything, their success is just indicative of another type of duplication: the sudden proliferation of Needing You clones.
Dry Wood Fierce Fire seems to have a lot in common with that seminal 2000 romantic comedy. It features an offbeat, slightly strange female lead in Miriam Yeung, and a handsome male lead in Louis Koo. The two play coworkers in an office setting, and like Needing You the threat of gossip and office politics is always around. Furthermore, the two don't have a lot in common at first, but form a burgeoning friendship due to mutual respect and a few convenient plot devices. Then a third party (played by Flora Chan) gets in the way, so our two heroes must admit their feelings or face life without each other. Or something like that. Yep, just like Needing You.
Alice (Miriam Yeung) works for "Ladies," a female-only magazine. However, publisher Michelle (Flora Chan) decides to merge "Ladies" with "Gents", an all-male magazine that employs Ryan (Louis Koo) as one of the chief editors. As you'd expect, this leads to your standard male/female office politics, but the quirky quotient is upped thanks to Alice's status as a fourth-generation Chinese herbologist. That means Miriam Yeung gets to spend a good third of the film engaging in wacky cultural shtick, i.e. prescribing herbs at the office, cooking traditional remedies, and practicing kung-fu all over the place.
Alice's antics around the office provides most of the film's comedy until the film's real plot comes to light. Here it is: Alice finds Ryan incredibly attractive, but he's sort of a lout towards her. Still, the two become friends when Ryan falls for Michelle and vows to win her love. Alice decides to help Ryan win Michelle, not noticing until it's too late that her own affection is growing stronger. Then Ryan must choose between the two women. Who didn't see that coming?
Like all romantic comedies, the fun comes not in the outcome of the film, but in the journey. In that, Dry Wood Fierce Fire stalls, as the buildup to the eventual blessed union consists of wacky shtick, some more wacky shtick, and then even more wacky shtick. Ryan and Alice shop for furniture but stop to fight with a beggar (Cheung Tat-Ming). They engage in Three's Company-type antics when Michelle visits Ryan, and Alice must hide herself in the fridge. They get their hands stuck together with epoxy, which means we get a short sequence of them holding hands. The comedy is certainly agreeable and fun, but nothing new occurs here.
Director Wilson Yip has a track record for terrific handling of character. That skill is lost here because he's directing a romantic comedy. When dealing with the horror trappings of Bio-Zombie or the cop soap opera of Bullets Over Summer, Yip has brought hidden depths to typically character-free genres. However, the usual romantic comedy situations at work here are too mechanical to allow for any hidden depths. There is the occasional moment that accomplishes much more (a dinner scene between Alice, Ryan and her parents is surprisingly affecting), but those moments are buried beneath recycled romantic comedy devices.
Still, the performers shore up the film's laziness. Louis Koo has shown surprising comedic instinct. In contrast to usual "aw-shucks" romantic leads Aaron Kwok or Leon Lai, Koo has shown the willingness to lampoon his own lady-killer image. His performances in this film and La Brassiere have opened up a whole new range of roles for him.
And, Miriam Yeung is a charming performer despite her limited repertoire of mouthy, innanely perky characters. Her comparison to Sammi Cheng is an understandable, but ultimately questionable one. Superficially, the two resemble one another, but the characters they play are quite different. Yeung is the quintessential "jade girl", the girl-next-door who charms thanks to her perky, pure-hearted attitude. Cheng's characters seem to have more complex emotions, and her acting style is natural and even deceptively subtle. Yeung is likable, but Cheng is currently the better actress (though Marry a Rich Man could make you think otherwise).
This doesn't mean that Yeung is a bad actress. She's actually quite winning and likable, though one wonders if she can handle anything else besides mouthy romantic leads. Her career thus far hasn't really required her to do more than pout, mug and smile. Hopefully a role will come her way that actually requires her to act. She just might have the ability to pull it off. (Kozo 2002)

This post has been edited by tammiest: Jan 10 2008 7 03 PM

[xsMiLeE_sTarZx]

yea...i've watched it. i thot it was a pretty good movie. but then i watched it a while ago...so kant really remember. but i remember liking it a lot when i was done. like..the plot and everything. pretty funny movie. and i liked the cast. louis n miriam. so kooOoL. haha. r u debating whether or not to watch it?

[Adieu]

this movie is okay ..not really good...but not bad either...i wouldnt recommend it...but if you are a fan of either louis koo or mariam yeung then check it out...if not...then dont...

It seems to be just one of the "run of the mill" love movies. It's either the genre you'd enjoy or not, rather than the movie itself.

[seaweed]

Average movie but if you are fond of those comedy + love movies then it will be worth a try

[_avextrax]

good movie if it's raining outside and you have some free time.

[sleepybabe]

From all the romance movie....I think this is a good one to watch. Miriam have done quiet some funny movies and she is getting popular.

Miriam is one of my favorite actors. She's great in this movie too. I liked it so much, I bought it.

[gossip80]

this was a really funny movie in the beginning, but then the end got kinda boring cause you knew what was gonna happen anyway, still, i was kinda shocked to see flora in it since she hardly makes any movies and miriam and louis are an interesting pair

[Darkcloudz]

I think this movie is very good and some of the parts in it are very funny, its a good movie to put in ur dvd collection.

a typical romantic comedy i'd say. but it's a really cute and entertaining movie itself. give it a try if u have some time on hand but i wouldn't recommended as one of the best of miriam's movie... =.=

[chinoischick]

This movie was pretty funny. If you are a fan of Miriam then you will enjoy this movie. By the way, her album from this time period was really good because it had all the themesongs that she sang from the movies like Love undercover, Dry Wood Fierce Fire, and Dummy Mommy.

[shyqt]

its been a pretty long time since i've watched it but it was pretty good though and its funny too

i have watched this movie a few months back ... I can not really remember to whole story line... but it was a good movie... it is a romantic comedy and it is really funny at some parts of the movie. Louis Koo and Miriam Yeung are just great in this movie.

well, i am a die hard louis koo fan... so any movies or drama series with him acting, i will definitely watch.

Anyway, i will definitely recommend this movie!

[princessducky]

I really enjoyed this movie. It was funny and I thought Louis and Miriam had good chemistry. I recommend it.

[vanterminator]

Good chemistry by both the leads it was definitely one of my most enjoyable films.

[blueblossom]

I think that this is a funny movie. I like the part when Louis gets waverly arm at the near end when he was chasing after miriam. It was really typically that he will chose Miriam instead of the girl that he had a crush on.

[babydream7]

I thought it was a movie worth watching!!! They were soooooo Funnyy and how Miriam acts it always seeks to amaze me how she makes simple things soo funny and other things that make you want to cry with her!!!! I Liked it- not a movie that makes you thing or anything but FUNNY~!

I am truly a Miriam fan... the movie is recommended... have seen it in the cinema a few years back... have got a DVD copy of it... worth a watch!

[sailormars4884]

The movie was overall pretty good. Although this isn't Miriam's best movie, fans of Miriam or Louis would find it interesting. I think Miriam and Louis make a cute couple.

[butoid]

this movie has been shown a few times on tv. i like romance comedies so this movie fits right in on my list of feel good movies. flora chan cameo as well.......yum yum

[aaaaa]

hehe my second most favorite miriam film with louis koo, and the so pretty FLORA!!

They made Flora look so dumb... they rushed the ending by making Flora convince Louis koo to leave with her, but then he decided to go with Miriam.. sighs they did such a bad job at that part

[monyi]

A sweet movie with a happy ending. It was cute seeing Miriam as a martial arts expert and Louis as a weak guy. Recommended.

[angeltvgirl416]

i dont really like this but i dont' get it why my friends keep on saying that this is funny but i dont' think so.

[Kazaf]

It was prett long ago
but was sure funny
miriam is always funny

[yjl9]

I like some Miriam movies, but most of her songs aren't very good. This movie was ok....Miriam looked funny with the glasses

the movie was ok. there goes miriam again with her spunky personality. I think in most movies like these, louis is always the sly handsome "weak" guy and the other female actress would be the chick that has a crush on him but something/someone interupts their relationship and it becomes a triangle thing.

i don't like it at all.. don't know why...
kinda sucks.. not my type of move.....
but i guess there's ppl who liked it

This is one of the first movies that ive seen miriam in. ahah Shes so funny. I liked watching Louis in here too ahah so funny.

Just watched it this weekend and I liked it a lot.
I just feel a little sorry for Flora at the end..........poor Flora

This post has been edited by Flat: Oct 19 2004 6 20 PM

[alwaisdazzlin]

Dry Wood Fierce Fire is really good! This was the movie that made me start to like Miriam! She acts so funny!

[red_dragon]

yeh seen it quite a while ago, watched it about 4 times, its soo funny!

does any1 know where can i find it with english subtitle in US?

its a nice movie.. ahaha.. made me laugh a bit.. was kind of sad too!! but i like these light harted comedies!! ^^.. miriam looks so ugly with glasses on in my opinion tho.. -.-

[u34ew]

This is a great movie. I think it was voted the best movie of the year in the year it was released or something

[MicroT13]

Pretty good movie, nothing spectacular but it had its share of funny moments.

[CheezX]

I think it's an average romantic comedy, but that isn't bad...if you just want more romantic comedies. It helps lighten up the day.

Its very funny,i saw the movie in hk.One of the best of Louis Koo.The funniest scene is when she stuck that thing in his butt '

it 's simple plot that can guess it. but not bad!!!! i like this film cause Louis Koo in here....and Miriam ....really good!!!!

[Kooslee]

This is one of my favorite movie. I thought it was so funny when the audience got to meet Louis, he was walking up the stair, and then passing out. Everyone at his workplace had to carry him up in the office and began to rescue him. Miriam was really funny in that movie.