Two of Hong Kong's most popular actors, Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, team up and strap on fat suits in Love on a Diet, a somewhat unconventional take on your usual romantic comedy that doesn't totally transcend the usual pitfalls of the genre, but gets enough mileage out of the charisma of its' stars to make it enjoyable to sit through, even if you're not usually a fan of these types of pictures.

In the movie, Sammi plays Mini, who has ballooned to three hundred pounds after being dumped by her boyfriend, a concert pianist named Kurokawa (Kurokawa Rikia). In order to pay her growing hotel bill, Mini allows a mama-san to fix her up with Fatso (Andy Lau). In one of those not-so-wonderfully dense movie tropes, the two don't get along at first, but soon grow to like each other, to the point where Fatso allows himself to be used as a human punching bag to pay for expensive weight-loss treatments for Mini so that she can be reunited with Kurokawa.

Most people are going to be able to guess how Love on a Diet ends, especially if you've read up a little on the movie or watched the trailer, which totally spoils the ending. But even if you're diving in cold, the story here isn't exactly full of unexpected twists. But, at least in this case, that's perfectly okay. Sometimes, a light movie can just be a light movie without the film-makers getting on their soapboxes full of self-importance, tossing artistic twaddle at the audience to make themselves feel more important. Directors Johnnie To and Wai Ka-Fai smartly, for the most part, let the actors do the heavy lifitng by creating characters through their performances that generate interest for the audience.

Love on a Diet still falls prey to its' share of schmaltz, with hacky elements like not one, but two, musical montages backed by sappy Cantopop songs -- because, of course, both Andy and Sammi had to get a single into the soundtrack. Also, the movie's message seems to be muddled. The main characters seem to only find happiness once they are thin. Wasn't the whole point of the last ninety minutes to propel the notion that size doesn't matter? At any rate, there are more solid elements than bad ones present here, making this a good DVD to throw on if you want to show someone that Hong Kong cinema isn't all dual-fisted pistols and flying kung fu kicks.

RATING: 6.25