[Review] Movie: Go Lala Go 2 杜拉拉升职记

Title: Go Lala Go 2
Native Title: 杜拉拉升职记
Country of Origin: China
Year Shown: 2015
Duration: ~104 minutes
My rating: 7.5/10

Cast:
Vic Zhou as Wang Wei/David
Ariel Lin as Du Lala
Bolin Chen as Stanley Chen
Nana as Sha Dangdang
Michelle Chen in a guest role as Carrie

This is one of my most anticipated films (see previous blog post for reference) of the year because of its powerhouse casting. I mean, how can anyone miss out on watching a film featuring three of Taiwan’s greatest actors?! Despite my utmost excitement over this film, I didn’t really set my expectations high but I still ended up being disappointed. Read more for my detailed review!

Note: I may have included some screencaps from the movie but I promise, they don’t really spoil anything as most of them have been used for promotional ads as well. My apologies also for providing some low quality screencaps since my internet was acting up so it was just set in 240p lol (but they became HD in the latter parts 😉

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STORY: 33 year-old Du Lala (Ariel Lin) is a hard-working and career-oriented woman who has a five-year relationship with Wang Wei (Vic Zhou). She is DB’s (name of the company) Human Resources manager in which she is assisted by 22 year-old quirky with model-like features Sha Dangdang (Nana). Sudden turnout of events have made her become a modern-day Cinderella and met another Prince Charming in Stanley Chen (Bolin Chen). It’s a very simple story in which she is torn between choosing love or career, David or Stanley, are among the many choices that she had to make. However, all she wants is a happily ever after just like any other woman in her age who is already starting a family.

I have never seen any other film or drama which had the lead work in the Human Resources department so that pretty much made me excited as I’ll be working in the same field as well. Too bad it wasn’t really the focus of the film as she became a modern-day Cinderella here haha!

I have always thought that this was going to be a rom-com ever since I heard about this film that I was even disappointed because I thought it would be such a waste of those actors’ talents. After finishing the film now, I’m taking it all back and wish that there was more comedy injected in it since I barely remember laughing at all (mostly giggling actually). See the reasons why below!

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ACTING/CAST: No complaints at all when it comes to Ariel Lin, there’s a reason why she won 2 Golden Bell awards already. The same goes with the two gorgeous men who are not only winners in the looks department, but also in the acting department. They did not outshine each other which is usually the case whenever the biggest stars come together in one project which made me love them even more.

I hope Nana’s fans won’t kill me for saying this but I wish the team behind the film got someone else for her role because I was pretty much bothered with how the mouthing of her words wasn’t synchronized with the voice dubbing. Although I must also praise her for being effective in being an annoying eyecandy or cupcake here (lol). Such powerhouse casting didn’t need a dash of hallyu in order to make people watch this film because the three main leads alone could already get all the cash for them! If it weren’t for these best actors, this film would even become more forgettable than it actually is.

I have always loved Ariel Lin and Bolin Chen together because of “In Time With You” (who doesn’t??) and I just love how they’re always willing to work together even years after that successful drama. I just had to emphasize that because I know a lot of actors who aren’t willing to team up with the same leading actor/actress for the sake of “exploring” the industry. Moreover, I love how these two did not even remind me of their characters from ITWY Cheng You Qing and Li Da Ren and not that I don’t love their characters because I really do. However, I said it because it just shows how great and versatile they are that they really take each of their role seriously and differently no matter how many times they have been paired up already (4x to be exact!).

It’s already a given that these two have such an amazing onscreen chemistry so I’d like to focus more on the chemistry between Vic and Ariel. The relationship of these two has always been known by the Taiwanese media and people as one rocky road so no one would have thought that they’d end up filming a movie together, and much more as lovers! Given that, I was giggling like an idiot while watching the film because they also had undeniable chemistry! Maybe not as insane as the one Ariel has with Bolin, but I really felt it with them too. Too bad that this was only a film, because who wouldn’t want to see these three in a drama?

I just want to randomly add that Vic admitted that this film inspired him about marriage and so he popped the question to his long-time girlfriend Reen Yu (we wrote about it here). So thank you for this movie for making Zai Zai a soon-to-be family man (*tears*).

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MUSIC: Nothing really stood out for me but maybe I was also just busy ogling at the three main leads… HAHA! Though my favorite “Make You Feel My Love” (English song) was played here through an instrument and I didn’t expect it at all so plus points for that. Another English song was also very fitting for the film which was “I’ve Been to Paradise”. It pretty much summed up all the realizations of Lala so that was a good one!

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REWATCH VALUE: Will I watch it again? Hmmm as a rare re-watcher, this probably won’t be on top of my priority list to rewatch. Why?? I may have been fangirling over Vic, Ariel, and Bolin here but I still wanted more from the movie itself because I really think that these three did a job well done. The writing was weak and I believe that it wanted to show something because I was expecting for it but it never managed to materialize.

Nothing spectacular about the story so I was hoping that there would be some kind of twist or excellent character development will be happening here. I believe that the actors were just following the script and so Vic, Ariel, and Bolin just did their jobs. However, the script or how the story went was just lacking something. What something? I have no idea. Maybe more on a better development of how the two men fell in love with Lala or maybe how she fights for what she wants. I was expecting a more feisty and confident Lala but I didn’t really see that. Instead, many potential storylines have been pushed aside but I can’t blame them too because it’s not a drama. Tell me why these three aren’t in a drama again?! Maybe if they do, it would be more worthy of re-watching! 😉

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OVERALL: “Go Lala Go 2” had a plot that is too reminiscent of many other modern Chinese films out there. Too reminiscent that in a few months or maybe even weeks, you would even forget that you watched it. However, we all know that you wouldn’t forget that you were able to watch Vic, Ariel, and Bolin in a movie and that in itself is already unforgettable. In a nutshell, this film had so much potential but managed to fall flat as it kept going. Simple and overused story, amazing cast, but really poor execution. You would think that your thirst for a more interesting storyline would be quenched by the writers or the storytelling method but it was just the acting of the main leads that would keep you satisfied here.

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I actually never planned to review this but this film gave me some writing inspiration lol so what did you think of “Go Lala Go 2”? A yay or a nay?