WOMEN WHO FLIRT opens in North America on November 26th, 2014

China Lion Film Distribution

presents

 

Women Who Flirt

Directed by Pang Ho-Cheung

China, 2014, 96 minutes

China Lion Film Distribution will release Hong Kong director Pang Ho-Cheung's rom-com Women Who Flirt in major metro areas throughout North America on Wednesday, November 26th, 2014. China Lion Australia/New Zealand will release the film the following day, Thursday, November 27th. Both North American audiences and audiences in Australia/New Zealand will be able to see the film ahead of the Mainland Chinese release on Friday, November 28th. For the film's official website, which includes specific release locations, click here.

The Mandarin language film stars Zhou Xun (Painted Skin, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate) as Angie Zhang, a young professional women who has been in love with Marco Gong (Huang Xiao Ming (Eastern Bandits, The Guillotines) at least since their college days. In fact, she abandoned her desire to be a sculptor so that she could take the job and be near him after they graduated.

Zhou Xun as Angie

Unfortunately, Marco is clueless about Angie's feelings. Because of family issues, he's always been intent on succeeding in a career, and has always fondly thought of Angie as a friend, never really as a woman. In part this is because he likes "sweet girls" and regards Angie as too "butch." At one point he even describes her to a male friend as a dude who pee's standing up.

Marco (Huang Xiao Ming) on assignment in a restaurant

When they are together on an assignment to evaluate the service at a restaurant, Merco reveals to Angie that he's begun seeing someone he met while on a business trip to Taiwan. Her name is Hailey (Sui Tang, a.k.a. Sonia Sui) and she's an expert at manipulative flirting. She also has a derriere that's superb, as revealed by a shot of her wearing cut-off shorts that expose the bottom of her butt cheeks.

On her own, Angie has next to no chance of competing with this brazen hussy because she has no talent whatsoever at flirting. She is totally unable to be provocative, to send a man the kind of signals that indicate that she's really interested in him, and not just as a friend.

May (Sie Yi Lin, second from left) and two "Barbies" advise Angie (right)

Fortunately, her friend May (Sie Yi Lin) is quite knowledgeable about such things. She assembles "The Barbie Army," four of the best female pickup artists in Shanghai to teach Angie the ropes and help her win Marco away from Hailey and convince him that she's the one he should be with.

Hailey (Sui Tang, left) and Angie

Women Who Flirt is a charming and delightful romp. It does a terrific job of successfully crossing cultures and languages, a journey that is often beset with severe pitfalls, particularly for comedies. The cast is quite solid across the board, but special mention must be made of the exceptionally fine performance by Zhou Xun. Her facial expressions are ofttimes hilarious on their own; for example when she's trying to learn how to say "I hate you" with just the right degree of petulance.

Oh, and be sure to stick around after the colorful end credits begin for a wonderful coda, especially you fans of the 1990 film Ghost, which starred Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.

AsianCineFest Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars; very highly recommended.