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It has been a long time since the cinema has seen such a lively scene. Before the movie started, the cinema was already packed with audiences of all ages. Everyone was talking and laughing, and it felt a bit like watching the Spring Festival Gala. It must be said that this was the appeal brought by the "Shen Ma" combination.

Poster of "Catch the Doll"

However, popularity is one thing, and word of mouth is another. Netizens' focus is mainly on the "three views" of this film. For example, the setting of the rich pretending to be poor in this film is easy to make the audience feel uncomfortable; for example, the educational concept of this film does not stand up to scrutiny, and the so-called "successor plan" is simply a destruction of children's nature.

It should be said that what everyone said is not without reason. The values ​​of this film are indeed in a very confused state throughout. It is difficult for us to tell whether this film is meant to satirize the hypocrisy of the wealthy couple Ma Chenggang and Chunlan, or to affirm their love for their son.

Especially the Easter egg at the end of the film, Ma Jiye was admitted to the Sports University as he wished, but he picked up a plastic bottle unconsciously during the long-distance race. You can't tell whether Ma Chenggang's training of his son is right or wrong, successful or failed. I guess the film's creators themselves didn't figure it out, so they can only let Shen Teng and Ma Li continue to use gags to fool around.

Shen Teng as Ma Chenggang

Ma Li as Chunlan

However, the "three views" are not the fatal problem of "Catching Dolls", or in other words, the so-called thoughtfulness and profundity have never been the specialty of Happy Twist. Looking back, "Charlotte's Troubles", which made Shen Teng, Ma Li and others famous, was also severely criticized because of the controversy of "three views", but this did not prevent it from becoming a benchmark work of Chinese comedy films in more than ten years.

Along the way, from "The Shameful Iron Fist" to "Li Cha's Aunt", from "The Richest Man in Xihong City" to "The Lone Moon", regardless of whether they are commercially successful, the "three views" of these works do not have many highlights, they just focus on being easy to understand.

Therefore, whether it is the rich pretending to be poor or raising children, it is just a "hot topic" used by the film's creative team to carry various jokes and ideas, not that they really want to discuss class differences or educational concepts with the audience. It is of course fine to use this as a starting point to criticize the film, but it does not hit the point and is just "shooting in the air".

Xiao Bochen as the young Ma Jiye

So, what is the problem with this film? Or is there a deviation in the script? In layman's terms, the story is not told completely, so it cannot "make sense". If you compare it, you will find that this film and "Charlotte's Troubles" have the same plot twist, that is, the protagonist's sudden "awakening". Charlotte realizes that wealth and fame cannot bring her true happiness, while in this film, Ma Chenggang's training plan failed, and Ma Jiye also found that he had been living in a false world for many years.

However, the next direction is inconsistent. After realizing his mistake, Charlotte tried desperately to make amends, but ultimately failed, which led to the ultimate proposition of the film: the importance of cherishing the people around you. And what about "Catching Dolls"? Ma Jiye finally left the fake "home", but Ma Chenggang just muttered, "Are you coming back for dinner tonight?" As soon as this sentence came out, the whole audience burst into laughter, but then the end credits came, which also meant that the film actually did not complete the "end" of the "introduction, development, turn and end".

Shi Pengyuan as young Ma Jiye

How should it be "combined" specifically? There are many possible scenes. For example, Teacher Li pretended to be Ma Jiye's grandmother for many years. At first, of course, she did it for financial gain, but she also developed real feelings for the child over the years. After Ma Jiye saw through the lie, if Teacher Li could try to save the relationship like Charlotte did, it would stimulate emotional tension and complete the closed loop of the plot - compared to letting the child "become a talent", perhaps "accompanying" is more important.

For example, Ma Jiye's performance in picking up plastic bottles during the competition made Ma Chenggang realize that the "successor plan" had failed - although years of hardship had taught the child a good habit of thrift, it did not make him a qualified business manager. If Ma Chenggang could actively reflect on this and actively seek the child's forgiveness, it would lead to another proposition: the growth of every child cannot follow a predetermined "plan", and everyone's life path must ultimately be explored by themselves.

Even the many NPCs that Ma Chenggang arranged around Ma Jiye can have their own independent stories. In their daily interactions with Ma Jiye, have they ever been moved by the child's innocence? Have they ever wanted to help the child recognize the truth? After the truth comes out, how will they view what they have done over the years?

In short, if the film's narrative can make up for that crucial "closure", not only will the ending be less abrupt, but it can also avoid a lot of unnecessary controversy. Unfortunately, in order to accumulate more "laughs", the film's creators arranged too many overly exaggerated but dispensable plots, such as the grandmother's "faking death" in the funeral home, and the elder brother Ma Dajun forcibly bathing his younger brother Ma Jiye.

Sarina as Grandma

In comparison, the narrative rhythm of "Charlotte's Troubles" is obviously much more compact, and there is almost no "wasted scene". For example, there are far more characters in the film than in this film, but each of them has his own iconic lines, which the audience still remembers and talks about with relish. What about this film? Zhang Feifei, played by Li Jiaqi, seems to be Ma Jiye's "savage girlfriend", but at the climax of the plot, this character almost completely disappears, and there is no explanation afterwards. I wonder what the meaning of her existence is?

From this detail, we can also see that in terms of script polishing, "Catching Dolls" is far from being comparable to "Charlotte's Troubles". Over the years, Happy Twist's movies have been declining in reputation and have been in constant controversy. People are mostly concerned about topics such as "whether the Tencent content is high or not", but few people point out that the fundamental problem is that as the scale and reputation of Happy Twist expand, its attitude towards script creation has long been absent-minded.

The general audience does not expect to get much "educational significance" or "ideological enlightenment" from the comedy movies of Happy Twist, so the "three views" issue has never been the key. In other words, the "three views" of Happy Twist movies have repeatedly deviated in recent years because the creators simply do not have the time and energy to perfect the logic of the narrative and can only use various jokes to "fill in the gaps".

The creativity of "Catching Dolls" is not bad, and Shen Teng, Ma Li and others also work very hard, but no matter how talented they are in comedy, they cannot save a script with inherent defects.

The combination of "Shen Ma" is undoubtedly the biggest selling point of this film.