A Bride for a Ride (TVB, 2009) Thoughts

A Bride for a Ride, in short, is a great parody with occasional witty dialogues that tried too hard to be funny and thus, lacked any attention-grabbing charm. Without an understanding of Chinese history or folktales, the audience would easily fall asleep even if the cast is a joy to watch. For me, Bride is simply a messy and draggy musical version of A Colorful Life.

Story

Bride is not about a man who is brave enough to kill two dragons, save a town of people, and become a hero. No. It’s about the man’s silly “hunt” for a wife. It’s about him mistakenly snatching one of the top scholars and the two end up becoming rivals. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy scenes of the arrogant, brutal, and stupid Tiger Wong (Chin Ka Lok) bullying the talented and weak Chow Man Bun (Sammul Chan) and the pranks they played on each other. But to watch that for more than 15 episodes got really tiring.

The episodes I liked most in Bride were 7 and 13. I remember those episodes so well because they were pure hilarity at its best. Both episodes centered around the marriage between Tiger and Mo Sam Leung (Louisa So), their moments of bickering, physical fighting, misunderstanding, and seduction. Their story was the best in the entire series. While the Wong family was a lot of fun to watch too, the members in the family other than Tiger were flat characters that generally did not contribute much to the story. And so after about 10 episodes of running around with little to nothing happening, the only conflict that needed resolution was in the romance department, which could have easily been finished in 1-2 episodes. But because Bride stuffed in a political, war subplot with extremely annoying new characters, the overall show became draggy and a burden to watch.

I honestly did love the parody in Bride, especially during the war, in which there was a reference to the fall of Hong Yu. (Think Kwong Wah from The Conqueror’s Story.) But still, I think that if Bride had kept the “feel” of the first 10 episodes and went down the path of being a lighthearted family comedy as was the first half of A Colorful Life, I would have enjoyed it much more.

By the last episode, I was quite tired out by Bride. However, the ending managed to pick up and become a highlight for me because the story went back to its original “feel”. They even made fun of the cast/characters hiding behind the scenes and brought back the “dead” too. The snippets of our 3 couples on their wedding night were also laugh-out-loud material. It was more of a party than an ending.

Performances

Chin Ka Lok as Tiger Wong

Courageous, righteous, and kindhearted yet ridiculously stubborn and stupid to the point of overbearing annoyance would be my description of Tiger. The moment I started warming up to this character, he smashes every bit of good thoughts I have for him the next second. By the end, I could only snicker at his actions and shake my head at his reactions. However, as much as I dislike Tiger, Chin Ka Lok is amusing to watch. He has so much energy and he doesn’t mind getting rough and dirty in order to give the best portrayal. Thumbs up to him for that.

Sammul Chan as Chow Man Bun

Chow Man Bun is smart and suave yet weak and indecisive, but personally, I didn’t see any change in his character even after he went through a reputational downfall and internal conflict. Definitely not a breakthrough role worthy of Sammul’s talent. Other than having to occasionally dress as a female and acting girly, I don’t see this as a challenging role for Sammul and therefore, Sammul nailed Man Bun with flying colors. Sammul fans should watch Bride just to see his many hilarious expressions.

Louisa So as Mo Sam Leung

The best character in the show, hands down. Sam Leung comes from the mountains and is an orphan, making her somewhat “wild”. She has never had a real family and doesn’t understand love. After marrying into the Wong family, she gradually learns to live a peaceful life and find happiness from being around people she cares about and who care about her. Sam Leung is a piece of cake for a versatile actress like Louisa So.

Nancy Wu as Wong Sau Ying

Sau Ying is refined, elegant, knowledgeable, sweet, true to herself, and loyal in love. She is every man’s perfect dream girl, but also a very flat character. From beginning to end, all Sau Ying does is keep a graceful “flower hand” and recite poems. Although a second lead role Nancy totally deserves, there is not much to show with Sau Ying and almost none when Sau Ying has such few scenes with Man Bun. The only comments I can make are one, Nancy is gorgeous, and two, I love her costumes.

Overall Enjoyment

I liked the series for half of its run at most, but only certain scenes here and there. I also watched the special for Bride, which presented us with the cast behind the scenes and you know what? That was a lot more entertaining. Overall, I enjoyed the characters’ interactions but Bride is a real burden to watch because there was no grasping plot and the parody and jokes got old. I’m relieved to finish this series and I honestly do not recommend it.

4/10

1. everstarx posted this