Nothing Can't Be Undone by a Hot Pot, originally known as Mei you yi dun huo guo jie jue bu liao de shi, is a quirky Chinese comedy movie with a dynamic mixture of elements from others genres such as drama and thriller. The story revolves around four characters who plan on stealing money from a rich administrator who organizes the planning of new housing projects in an old suburb.
This film convinces on several levels. First and foremost, the interesting mixture of comedy, drama and thriller elements manages to entertain and surprise through a generous running time of one hundred twenty-nine minutes. Every single time the movie makes you laugh, it is soon followed by a dramatic scenes. Every single time there is a tense moment, some unexpected comedy sequences lighten up the mood of the viewers. The scriptwriters deserve particular praise here.
Up next, the story is quite intriguing as well. It involves elements of theft, murder and kidnapping but all these serious issues are being dealt with in a light-hearted way. The film comes around with a multitude of twists and turns that keep viewers on the edges of their seats until the credits will be rolling.
This leads us to the third strong element of this movie. The characters are certainly creative, memorable and unique. The actresses and actors bring them to life with much dedication. Viewers will be introduced to the elderly owner of an opera house who plans on stealing money from a greedy administrator he once tried to bribe. We also meet a young delivery boy with a particular attachment to his mother who has been in the administrator's apartment on numerous occasions. Up next, there is a violent young man who has been to prison in the past and whose crimes seemed to be connected to the administrator's schemes. Lastly, we meet a mysterious young lady who claims to be an innocent fortuneteller but might have a gloomier identity than initially suspected. Numerous intriguing side characters such as the manipulative administrator himself, the watchful mother of the opera house owner and his intelligent wife add further entertainment to this film.
Several plot elements might be predictable, there are a few too many dialogues and the total length of the film cut have easily been cut by about half an hour but such claims are only minor complaints that won't keep viewers from all around the world from enjoying this quirky movie.
At the end of the day, this film is recommended to anyone interested in clever comedy movies and contemporary Chinese culture discussing capitalistic greed and excessive housing projects without being moralizing or propagandistic. Nothing Can't Be Undone by a Hot Pot, originally known as Mei you yi dun huo guo jie jue bu liao de shi, might not be material for movie of the year but will offer more than two hours of light-hearted entertainment that should be enjoyed by children, teenagers and adults alike.
