People are voting emotionally.

Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A person is bound to act strangely when losing at love and life. Some channel the failure into better things. In a true story, three entrepreneurs take some lumps from classrooms, random grouches, consulates, love, and each other, and manage to turn things around. They come up from depths of despair with jewels found in their hearts. With straight talk, humor and personal stories, these three turn English language classes in an abandoned factory, along with broken dreams, into a billion dollar empire. While ripe with awkward moments, inadequately developed themes, and scenes that are difficult to translate, this is a compelling tale, finely portrayed, of dealing with adversity, following your bliss and hidden talents, and letting the rest go. Seen at the 2014 Miami International Film Festival.

I thought Chan Ho-sun's latest movie, American Dreams in China, would be a more masculine version of Zhao Wei's So Young. But not quite, as it turns out.Although the film depicts a nostalgic campus life full of idealism for the future and the impulses of love, the story is more about starting out after innocent youth has faded.Through the intertwined destinies of the movie's protagonists, the audience witnesses a triangle of friendship, career ambitions and personal dreams seemingly collapse as three best friends desperately try to tie and twist these elements together.That's why Wang Yang (Tong Dawei), one of the three best friends, who start a business together, shares this lesson of life: "Never start a business with your best friends."He may be right. After all, no matter how close they are, differences in their professional and personal aspirations can drive friends apart. Every individual has a distinct outlook on the world and their future, which determines the trajectory of their career and life.Without knowing of Meng Xiaojun's (Deng Chao) struggles in the US and his disillusion toward the country, there's no way Cheng Dongqing (Huang Xiaoming) can understand why Meng is pushing all the agendas so hard. The parting of the invincible trio, to some extent, is predestined.Even so, despite these differences, friendship always prevails. Cheng's difficulties become a podium on which the three friends stand together. It's through the emotional connection they developed over many years that they finally overcome their differences and reform the alliance.What the film tries to convey is the triumph of brotherhood, which dates back to our naive, passionate youth when unconditional bonds of emotion are shaped.So the film was never about business after all.

Lately, a certain term began to sound very popular around China~ Chinese Dream. As government officials try to explain in their well prepared and yet very dull PR speeches, it's pretty much the same concept as the American Dream back in the 1950s~ work, money, happiness and national pride. However, "American Dreams in China" does not bother with this issue directly. It is only due to strange translation that one may get such an impression. Actually, the literal transliteration would sound something like "Chinese Partner". And indeed, the story is a mix of comedy and drama which revolves about the dreams and careers of 3 good friends, who came to be successful businessmen. You could say that "American Dreams in China" has elements of a Hollywood style rags-to-riches plot, but there's more to it~ For one to understand and like this motion title, one must comprehend what China looked like 30 years a go, and trust me, it had absolutely nothing to do with anything you have today. Back in the early 1980s when the story begins, Chinese society was still a firmly Maoist environment, with little or no personal freedoms. The country only started to open up, but still, the road ahead was long and challenging. Money or any kind of major material possessions were a distant dream for most. Young people had only but two choices~ to study and hope for a city desk job, or settle in the country side and employ in a field or factory. Naturally, many had a problem with the options, which pushed to them find luck in other places of the world, most often in the USA. Some of them succeeded to cross the ocean, but most had to stay in China and search for a different way."American Dreams in China" is a story about 3 college friends with same dreams, and yet, paths that took very different turns. It is a drama (based on a true story as they say) with comic elements~ A Chinese tale which in a humorous, and yet very bold ways speaks of a generation that started the business story which, up till today, made China the economic center of the world. Their work and effort will go along with the changing society, enduring the wild and turbulent tides.So, did I like it? Quite so much~ I even saw the film in a Chinese cinema with no subtitles, which was a unique opportunity for me to polish my Mandarin, haha. "American Dreams in China" is a good and creative substance for all those who like drama, comedy and are willing to get into the social issues of China. Definitely worth watching~

During the economic reform period of the 80's, three friends bind together by a common ambition – to live the American dream. The three leads Huang Xiao Ming, Deng Chao and Tong Dawei create a very believable camaraderie. It is possible to be happy for your friend doing well and envy him at the same time, and that is the central story between these three friends. Huang Xiao Ming brings his best performance thus far. He's not busy preening for the camera and posing a pretty boy as I have seen in his past works. It's partly the role itself as it asks Huang to start by playing a vulnerable teenage boy who eventually that ages into a man.There's a trend of using very fast cuts in Mainland comedies right now. It originated with Ning Hao's 2006 heist comedy Crazy Stone - which drew its visual style from Guy Ritchie - and now it has officially embedded itself genetically as filmic grammar for Chinese comedic dialogue. There's a scene where two of the friends had a fight and complain about each other individually with the third friend over a ping pong game. The cutting is so fast between conversation A and conversation B that it's impossible for the audience to really feel what these characters are going through. These montages will happen every now and then to speed the story ahead. It's zany for sure, but at times I wish they would let the scenes breathe instead of zeroing in for laughs.That said, it's smart on Peter Chan's part of picking up on this trend and using it here because American Dreams in China is a Mainland Chinese story made for the Mainland audience. The content may prove more difficult with English-speaking audiences whom aren't aware of the cultural context or why the 3 friends carry the values they do about America and the American Dream to laugh at it whole-heartedly.Suffice to say, Chan balances the film well and it is impressive to see a Hong Kong director tune to a Mainland frequency. Best thing I can say about Peter Chan's direction is that he is worldly. He doesn't portray Americans as white devils, which makes things more interesting and engaging. American Dreams in China will connect with its audience, namely Chinese people who were born in the 80's, and those people will enjoy it. Everybody else I am not so sure but this is a nice gem of a film nonetheless.For more reviews, please visit my blog @ http://hkauteur.wordpress.com