Another Me
李茂扮太子
China, 2022, colour, 2.35:1, 99 mins.
Director: Gao Ke 高可.
Associate director: Yang Xiaoming 杨晓明.
Rating: 5/10.
Role-swapping costume comedy featuring Ma Hua FunAge regulars is okay but could have been much better.
STORY
Ancient China. The only son (Chang Yuan) of the emperor (Wei Xiang) is forced by his father to wear a mask to conceal his identity and to study round the clock. Trapped in the palace, the prince dreams of escaping and enjoying the world outside. Meanwhile, outside the capital, Yang Jiazhen (Ma Li), the daughter of wealthy parents (Ai Lun, Feng Qinchuan), runs an inn and is married to smalltime constable Li Mao (Chang Yuan), who is always trying to curry favour with the local county magistrate, Ximen Daren (Chen Bing), with gifts. Yang Jiazhen’s parents think their daughter has married beneath her and Yang Jiazhen only manages to get them along to Li Mao’s birthday meal by telling them it’s his last. During an argument the mother’s pet cat drops dead of shock. One night, while still trying to ingratiate himself with Ximen Daren, Li Mao stumbles across him and prefectural magistrate Du Shangshu (Du Xiaoyu) meeting secretly in a graveyard. Du Shangshu is plotting the kidnapping of the prince, and has has promised Ximen Daren a promotion for his help; thinking the two are simply arranging an outing to the theatre for the prince, Li Mao offers the use of his inn, which they eagerly accept, offering Li Mao a promotion if all goes well. That night, when Yang Jiazhen complains about still not being pregnant, Li Mao tells Yang Jiazhen he’s been waiting for his lot to improve – which could happen very soon. Not believing him, she goes to stay with her mother, during which time Li Mao hurriedly has the inn converted into a theatre. However, Ximen Daren then angrily informs him the whole thing is off, as the emperor has forbidden the prince to make the trip. Li Mao’s brother-in-law Yang Jiabao (Wang Chengsi) suggests Li Mao secretly breaks into the prince’s quarters and discusses things with the prince himself. When he does, Li Mao and the prince discover they are identical, so the prince decides they change places so he can escape the palace for a while. All goes well until Ximen Daren thinks he discovers what is going on and orders the Yangs’ public execution.
REVIEW
The emperor’s son and a lowly constable swap places in Another Me 李茂扮太子, an entertaining but hardly side-clutching costume romp that’s filled with members and associates of Beijing comedy troupe Ma Hua FunAge 开心麻花 like top Mainland comedienne Ma Li 马丽 and (in the central double role) goofy-looking Chang Yuan 常远 (hit odd-couple comedy Warm Hug 温暖的抱抱, 2020). Several Ma Hua FunAge productions (Hello Mr. Billionaire 西虹市首富, 2018; Hello, Mrs. Money 李茶的“姑妈”, 2018) have used western classics as springboards and this one is clearly inspired by the 1881 Mark Twain novel The Prince and the Pauper; but beyond the basic concept it’s all original. Written and directed by Gao Ke 高可 (previously a producer) and Ma Hua FunAge member Yang Xiaoming 杨晓明 (an actor, writer and theatre director), it’s been the clear hit of 2022 prior to the CNY onslaught, taking a meaty but not knockout RMB460 million since being released on 1 Jan.
As the Mainland’s best-known and hardest-working screen comedienne – she’s had another comedy, Manchurian Tiger 东北虎 (2021), also released in January – Ma, 39, gets top billing and is perfectly cast as the petite wife who really runs the place and can throw her husband over her shoulder. Unfortunately she’s off-screen for long stretches, when the film has to be carried by Chang, 40, in the double role of entitled prince and dim constable. Chang showed his mettle as the OCD freak in Warm Hug, but he’s not yet got the sheer physical presence and star power to carry a film like Another Me on his own shoulders. For a start, his two roles aren’t that different, and he’s also surrounded by a battery of other Ma Hua FunAge stalwarts – such as Wei Xiang 魏翔 as the emperor, Wang Chengsi 王成思 as the brother-in-law, Huang Cailun 黄才伦 as a slimy arse-licker, Ai Lun 艾伦 as the father-in-law – who keep popping up and stealing his shadow.
After the basic role-swapping idea has been set up after 20 minutes, the script increasingly relies on pratfall comedy, wordplay, and cameo appearances – Yu Yang 于洋 as a blind doctor, Zhang Zidong 张子栋 as a hot-headed assassin, Swiss-born Korean Yi Seong-min 이성민 | 李成敏 [Clara Lee] as a manic shaman – rather than a plot with real character development and architecture. One also misses the presence of Ma Hua FunAge heavyweights like Shen Teng 沈腾 and Qiao Shan 乔杉, who are especially good, like Ma, at the troupe’s droll style of comedy.
Aside from the lack of any real arc to the screenplay, other small deficiencies – such as no convincing reason ever being given for Ma’s smart character to be attracted to Chang’s dim constable – add to the sense that the script needed at least one more re-write. The basic message, that friendship crosses social boundaries, is unnecessarily spelled out at the end. Another Me is never a hard watch, and often an enjoyable one, but it could have been so much better.
Production values are good and the directing team of Gao and Yang keeps things on the move without any distracting flourishes. Widescreen photography by new name Zhu Yuzhou 朱昱洲 does the job. The film’s Chinese title means “Li Mao Plays the Prince”. In line with the troupe’s predilection for punny names, Li Mao 李茂 sounds exactly the same as the Chinese word for “good manners” 礼貌, though the pun is never explored in a comic way.
CREDITS
Presented by New Classics Pictures (CN), Feiyang Entertainment (Beijing) (CN), China Film Group (CN), Tencent Pictures Culture Media (CN), Tianjin Yuewen Media (CN), Shanghai Taopiaopiao Movie & TV Culture (CN).
Script: Gao Ke, Yang Xiaoming. Photography: Zhu Yuzhou. Editing: Zhong Rui. Music: Ji Yuan, Wang Na’na. Art direction: Chen Jianzhang, Wang Jinshan. Styling: Wang Xiyu. Sound: Liu Jia. Visual effects: Wang Chengcheng, Shen Yuan, Tan Xin. Performance direction: Xu Anhe.
Cast: Ma Li (Yang Jiazhen), Chang Yuan (Li Mao), Ai Lun (Yang Jiazhen’s father), Wei Xiang (emperor), Wang Chengsi (Yang Jiabao), Du Xiaoyu (Du Shangshu, prefectural magistrate), Chen Bing (Ximen Daren, county magistrate), Feng Qinchuan (Yang Jiazhen’s mother), Li Haiyin (Cuiping, Yang Jiabao’s wife), Huang Cailun (Da Huang), Song Xiaobao (builder), Yu Yang (doctor), Yi Seong-min [Clara Lee] (shaman), Zhang Zidong (assassin), Liu Guanlin (second assassin).
Release: China, 1 Jan 2022.