‘Love Contractually’ is an endearing drama with strong, likeable leads to carry its somewhat predictable romantic comedy plot.
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Don’t let the colourful, smiley poster fool you. While ‘Love Contractually’ is a romantic comedy, it is more drama than comedy throughout. Its first half does have quite a number of funny scenes, but the humour is gradually abandoned for a more serious drama. It is a good thing because the film is more skilled in dabbling in drama than comedy.
The premise is rather typical. It is essentially a love story between a strict insurance CEO, Jin (Sammi Cheung), and a poor happy-go-lucky man, Bo (Joseph Chang). It is the circumstances of their contract that is interesting. Jin recruits Bo as her assistant, while in fact she wants him to be a sperm donor so that she can have a child. Although Bo is shocked, he agrees as he needs the money.
It was never explained why Jin would need to personally recruit a man to be a sperm donor, and to personally know the person. She might be picky, but she also mentioned that she does not want emotional attachment. She certainly has the resources to get a sperm donor and to know everything about him before meeting the man on a regular basis. Of course, Bo being Jin’s assistant is a device to allow them to get to know each other better and for their feelings to blossom through daily interactions.
The whole artificial insemination plot does seem like (and often is) a plot device. However, it is also what provides a little unpredictability in an otherwise typical rom-com. Will the insemination be successful? If yes, will Bo continue to take care of Jin during her pregnancy? Will the baby bring Jin and Bo together?
One thing that the film does well is in developing the romance between Jin and Bo. Their romance does not feel too rushed. While Jin slowly warms up to Bo, she intends to stick to her plan of not having any man in her life. Bo clearly does not have a good first impression about Jin, but he slowly changed his perspective as he understands her better. Most of the time, I feel that their decisions are consistent with their personalities.
What truly makes this film enjoyable is the two leads. Sammi Cheung and Joseph Chang are charming actors who have excellent chemistry together. It helps that the characters they play are interesting, complex characters. Throughout the film, we slowly learn about their past, families, and how their experience shaped them into who they are. The film does have a tendency to over-explain, though. At one point, Jin wondered why she was revealing so much to Bo and I could not help but to wonder the same thing.
Overall, ‘Love Contractually’ is an endearing drama with strong, likeable leads to carry its somewhat predictable romantic comedy plot. Its artificial insemination plot does not provide enough novelty and the ending has a rather baffling moment that feels out of place. Nonetheless, the film is certainly entertaining and engaging enough for drama fans to enjoy.
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