Where Is the Husband
老公去哪了
China, 2019, colour, 2.35:1, 97 mins.
Director: Li Siyi 李思易.
Rating: 5/10.
Marital comedy sports strong playing, especially by its central female trio, but a poorly constructed script.
STORY
Haizhou city, southern China, the present day. On the TV show Where’s the Husband? 老公去哪了, in which couples talk about their marital problems, wife Han Wenfang (Huang Xiaolei) remembers her troubles with husband and business partner Zhang Baojiang (Huang Junpeng), CEO of construction group Xiongdi, “all started with a necklace…” Prior to that, Zhang Baoqiang’s longtime driver Hou Yulong (Peng Yu) had met Sun Xinxin (Shen Mengchen) at a KTV where his boss was holding a party. When she’d said she was looking for work, and claimed to be a “computer wizard”, he’d arranged for her to be interviewed next day for the job of Zhang Baojiang’s secretary. Another applicant, Guo Xiaoting (Zhang Xinyuan), had got the job but Sun Xinxin had opportunistically followed Hou Yulong around. After dropping off Zhang Baoqiang at the docks for a business trip, Hou Yulong had collected some jewellery his boss has bought for his wife’s birthday. Unknownst to him, however, Sun Xinxin had dropped an embarrassing note into the box, engineering a meeting next day with Han Wenfang at which she’d claimed Zhang Baoqiang was still in town and with a woman whose name was Ning (Liu Yiying). Han Wenfang had taken on Sun Xinxin as her personal assistant, and also convinced the loyal Hou Yulong to spy on his boss for her. Meanwhile, Zhang Baojiang’s longtime number two, Chen Yuan (Li Bo), had become suspicious of Sun Xinxin’s sudden influence and started to investigate her background. Then, after Sun Xinxin had bugged Zhang Baoqiang’s office on his wife’s orders, she’d discovered Guo Xiaoting was sneaking around his office when he was out.
REVIEW
Though it made almost zero impression at the Mainland box office, marital comedy Where Is the Husband 老公去哪了 sports some lively performances, especially by its central female trio, and an agreeably offbeat sense of humour that hints at the film it could have been in stronger creative hands. Too bad, then, that the screenplay is scrappily constructed, with motivations and linking material often absent, and the whole third act is hijacked by a darker subplot about the husband’s corrupt number two. Thanks to its performances, and smooth production values (including a light, bouncy score that sustains the mood), the film just about squeezes a 5/10.
The main problem with the script is the way in which its focus keeps shifting: initially it sets up the odd couple of a CEO’s loyal driver and an opportunistic, straight-talking young woman but later shifts to the CEO’s wife and her mouthy BFF, as well as the supposedly philandering CEO, his supposed mistress, his suspicious number two and a host of minor characters. A comedy of this kind requires an extreme precision the screenplay simply lacks, which is a shame as there’s some good material buried here that just needed polishing and reworking.
Though her character is hardly backgrounded, and her motivations hardly make much sense, perky presenter/actress Shen Mengchen 沈梦辰, 30, rises above the material (as also in failed rom-com One Night or Whole Life 识色，幸也, 2017) in the role of the young opportunist, though it’s classy older actress Huang Xiaolei 黄小蕾, 38, mostly known from TV, who provides the wackiest moments as the betrayed wife – remember her film-stealing cameo as a randy hotel guest in Kill Me Please 这就是命 (2017)? – often backed up by TV’s Gan Lu 甘露, 30, as her opinionated BFF. When the three gals team up to expose the husband’s peccadillos – most memorably when posing as hotel cleaners – this plot development is almost thrown away. It’s symptomatic of the whole exercise.
TV’s Huang Junpeng 黄俊鹏, 45, makes a strong enough male lead to balance all the female shennanigans, as well as cutting a handsome and sympathetic presence. As his thick but loyal driver, presenter-actor Peng Yu 彭宇 has good chemistry with both Huang and Shen, despite being somewhat sidelined in the second half; in small roles a large number of names pop up here and there, including Ju Hao 句号 as a policeman, Wang Deshun 王德顺 as a white-bearded businessman and imposing veteran Shi Zhaoqi 石兆琪 as part of the plot’s Big Surprise. Overall direction by first-timer Li Siyi 李思易 seems alert to the film’s comic possibilities but he’s unable to paper over the script’s cracks.
The film, set in fictional Haizhou, was largely shot in Hangzhou city and neighbouring Anhui province in autumn 2017. The script and original story are credited solely to Zhang Niansheng 张年胜, an actor from Anhui who was also one of the producers, though another writer, Song Xing 宋行, has claimed online that the story, plot and characters were all created by him.
CREDITS
Presented by Beijing Anhe Jiuzhou Culture Media (CN).
Script: Zhang Niansheng. Photography: Ding Jie. Editing: Geng Liang. Music direction: Su Wenjie. Art direction: Guo Tingtang. Costumes: Shi Yujun. Styling: Wang Jiulu. Sound: Zuo Wei, Wang Hongbin. Martial arts: Yin Xingshun. Executive direction: Zhao Junhan.
Cast: Huang Junpeng (Zhang Baojiang), Shen Mengchen (Sun Xinxin), Huang Xiaolei (Han Wenfang), Peng Yu (Hou Yulong/Houzi/Monkey), Gan Lu (Wang Wei), Li Bo (Chen Yuan), Gao Hai (Han Wendong), Liu Yiying (Ning Shuang’er), Wang Qiang (Huang Tingting), Zhang Xinyuan (Guo Xiaoting), Shi Zhaoqi (Han Weiguo), Li Qinqin (Gao Fei), Ju Hao (old policeman), Wang Deshun (Ma, white-bearded CEO), Zhou Xiao’ou (man with wig), He Yunwei (doctor), Gu Jianyun (TV presenter), Yuan Man (Yu Anquan), Zhang Chao (policeman), Xue Cun (Yang, ruffian), Yang Qing (old woman), Yao Lan (HR), Zhang Taotao (HR assistant), Zhou Zhi (Miss Zhou, star interviewee), Li Xiaofeng (Han Weiguo’s assistant), Hou Chuangao (Wei, CEO), Ge Si (Li), Qian Youzuo (Liu, Zhang Baojiang’s family maid), Yu Yankai (Hu, CEO), Zhang Zheyu (Lele, Ning Shuang’er’s son), Zhu Jiayi (Ni’ni, Zhang Baojiang’s daughter).
Release: China, 15 Mar 2019.