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Miss Dong from Top Cinema (original from TopCinema, reproduction is strictly prohibited)

One word: fierce.

I'm talking about the new film starring Shen Teng and Ma Li.

"Catch the Doll".

As the most box office-appealing comedy duo in China, from "Charlotte's Troubles" in 2015 to "Lone Moon" in 2022, and to this time's "Catching Dolls", Shen Teng and Ma Li have once again demonstrated their phenomenal box office appeal.

The movie "Catching Dolls", in which the two co-starred again, was advanced to a large scale preview on July 13, which was directly equivalent to advancing the release date again.The box office on the first day of the preview exceeded 150 million, quickly becoming the box office champion of the day!

On July 16, the first day of its official release, the cumulative box office of "Catching Dolls" has exceeded 600 million!

In contrast, the movie "Legend" starring Jackie Chan fell out of the top three box office on the first day of the preview of "Catching Dolls". On July 16, it dropped to sixth place, with a single-day box office of only more than 1.3 million.

The cumulative box office of "Legend" after several days of preview and 7 days of official release is only more than 70 million. According to the current situation, it is not optimistic that the box office will exceed 100 million in the future.

Compared with the 350 million yuan investment in the movie "Legend", such box office results are basically bound to end up in huge losses.

Sure enough, the market structure has changed. As soon as Shen Teng and Ma Li made a move, the market took off directly, and also quickly suppressed movies including "The Silent War" and Jackie Chan's "Legend".

even,Even Shen Teng’s promotion of "Legend" on his social account, "Please everyone watch Director Tang and Big Brother’s new movie Legend," could not save the box office of this movie.

"Catching Dolls" is a work of Happy Twist, directed by directors Yan Fei and Peng Damo. It is the second collaboration between the two after "Charlotte's Troubles" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City", and is a series of works that continues the "Xihong City Universe".

The film tells a ridiculous and hilarious story: A wealthy couple, Ma Chenggang (played by Shen Teng) and Chunlan (played by Ma Li), disguise themselves as a poor family for the future of their son Ma Jiye, and want to use extreme educational methods to "shape" an excellent "family successor" in the future...

"Catch the Dolls" was screened on a large scale on the first day, and word of mouth was also released. It seems to be polarized: some people gave it one star for hilarious moments, while others gave it five stars for disappointment.

Despite the polarized reviews, Douban gave it a score of 7.5, which is a very good score.

Miss Dong from the No. 1 Cinema also just watched "Catch the Dolls" on the first day of the preview. This movie is indeed hilarious. Audiences who go for the laughs will not be disappointed, but those who go for the depth of the content may not be satisfied.

I have four personal feelings:

1. Shen Teng and Ma Li, the domestic comedy king duo, have no meal replacements.

I have to say that the "Shenma Combination" is really a unique comedy duo in China. In "Catching Dolls", the two of them cooperated perfectly in terms of eye contact, actions, and lines. They brought a strong aura as soon as they appeared on the stage, making people unable to take their eyes away and couldn't help laughing.

Shen Teng and Ma Li's performances have long been unique, and their collaboration also has a unique chemical reaction that cannot be replaced by anyone else.

The Shenma combination will never disappoint.

2. The first half of "Catching Dolls" is full of jokes.

Happy Twist’s strongest lineup is indeed full of jokes, especially the first half of “Catching Dolls”, which is full of jokes and laughs that make people laugh non-stop.

At the beginning of the film, Chunlan, the mother played by Ma Li, invites Jia Bing to smoke a cigar. The use of homophonic pun is very clever and hilarious.

There is also the "textbook-style English conversation" between the foreigner and Ma Jiye, which is also hilarious.

Personally, I think the funniest part is when Ma Jiye takes his mother and grandmother to eat hotpot, and the part where they wait in line is so hilarious that it makes people laugh to death.

Such burdens are everywhere in the first half of the film.

3. "Catch the Dolls" is not "The Truman Show".

In "Catching Dolls", the wealthy Ma Chenggang and his wife were determined to educate their son to become a "family successor" with good character and academic performance, so they created a "fictional" reality for their son Ma Jiye.

Because the protagonists of the story live in a reality created by others, some people compare "Catch the Doll" with the classic film "The Truman Show" starring Gene Kelly.

But after watching the movie, you will find that "Catching Dolls" is not "The Truman Show". "Catching Dolls" is essentially a comedy. In terms of concept, presentation, and depth, it cannot be equated with "The Truman Show".

4. An absurd fake funeral, the jokes start to feel awkward.

The first half of "Catching Dolls" is full of jokes, which are lifelike and relatively reasonable. But in the second half, when Ma Jiye grows from a child to a teenager, many of the jokes start to become awkward.

Especially the absurd fake funeral in the film, the forced laughs made people feel very uncomfortable.

When the "grandmother" who accompanied Ma Jiye from childhood to adulthood was forced to die and held a funeral, her last words were also forced to force him to take the entrance exams to Peking University and Tsinghua University, and in the end she even staged a "corpse revelation" in tears, it was very embarrassing to watch.

If the previous disguise was for the children to study hard in a difficult environment, making the absurdity relatively reasonable, then this disguised funeral was just absurd for the sake of absurdity.

The educational topic discussed in "Catching Dolls" this time is more serious than "Charlotte's Troubles" and "The Richest Man in Xihong City", involving parents and children. However, the film uses the absurdity of parents creating false deaths to deceive their children, which is unreasonable and inappropriate.

Just ask, which parent who loves their child would use the fake death and funeral of a "relative" to hurt their child?

It is particularly uncomfortable to base the laughs of an absurd comedy on the pain of hurting children.

This time, "Catching Dolls" wants to use absurd comedy to reflect on the Chinese parenting style through the successor plan of the wealthy couple Lao Ma. It is full of laughs and hopes to resonate and make the audience think.

The first half has a better pace, but the second half starts to become suspended and absurd, deviating too far from reality. The overall intention and depth are insufficient, which is a pity.

However, it is rare in recent times to have such a domestic film that can make people laugh.

Guess how much the box office of "Catching Dolls" will be this time?

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