Almost Perfect

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Movie Details

• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
• Release Date: 2012-09-21 LA/Honolulu
• Running Time: 106 min.
• Director: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan
• Cast: Kelly Hu, Ivan Shaw, Christina Chang, Tina Chen, Edison Chen, Roger Rees, Kristy Wu, Alice Callahan, Allison Mackie, Natalie Gold
• Producers: Derrick Tseng, Riva Marker, Bertha Bay-Sa Pan
• Writer: Bertha Bay-Sa Pan
• Distributor: Eleven Arts
• Official Site: Almost Perfect Official Site

Bertha Bay-Sa Pan's Almost Perfect is not unlike a feature-length episode of the average comfort-food sitcom: wholly uninspired, but also so inoffensive that to pick it apart and harp over each and every one of its flaws would almost be self-defeating. Think of it as cinema of resignation: the kind of made-for-TV movie you'd find playing late one restless night and, lacking the energy to keep channel-surfing, end up watching all the way through. Featuring X2: X-Men United's Kelly Hu as a thirty-something juggling the requisite blend of romantic, professional, and filial entanglements, it's rarely less than decent despite being by-the-numbers for each of its 106 minutes. Hu, for her part, is often more lively and engaging than the material would seem to warrant; her performance is one of few parts of the film that warrant an A for effort. Nearly everything around her reeks of formula, but at no point does she appear to be phoning it in. Hackneyed and forgettable though all this may be, Almost Perfect is also pretty watchable until its breezy first half gives way to ill-advised melodrama. Once that sets in, saccharinity derails things to an extent that neither Hu's performance nor the film's heart-in-the-right place vibe can save it from. This is the kind of movie you want to root for, given its low budget and the stagnation of most romantic comedies; as time goes on, however, it gives you fewer and fewer reasons to do so.