Review of Xiao shi dai

I feel like this movie might have had some potential, but I think it falls flat with the characters. If you enjoy this movie, more power to you, I'm happy you enjoy it. However, this film was full of expensive brands and rich people that left it feeling ultimately shallow and something that not a whole lot of people relate to. The main protagonist is whiny and not somebody I could root for. I feel like she took a job way above her ability and essentially dragged her friends into all of her problems and cried. I feel like this is a film that really could have used a prequel film to establish the relationship of all the characters, and how they grew so close. We are just thrown in and are expected to know and accept that all of these people are close. Not to mention it didn't have a central message that was impactful. While the production quality is nice, I feel this film is lacking a lot in core character development, as well as relatable elements that an audience can connect to.

However, I am a Western citizen, Eastern audiences seemed to like this movie a lot. It set records in the box offices of China. While I cannot deny the success of this film and the potential visual appeal, I feel the story is lacking and the characters were not fleshed out well at all.