Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Overdue review- Food For Life (my favourite series)

Food For Life- Yummy Yummy

Starring:

Kevin Cheng- Gai Jai

Charmaine She- Mandy

Tavia Yeung- Ah Yan

Raymond Lam- Orh Siew

Ben Yeo- Terry

Michelle Chia- Yuko

Natalie Tong- Ah Bo

Summary :

The story starts out with a TV game-show, where Kevin, Charmaine, Tavia, Raymond and Ben got acquainted. Even though they lost the game, the 5 of them kept in contact and friendship blossomed. Each character faces different struggles with their career, family, and love lives. But each time, the friends are there to give them support, and help them through their difficulties. Finally, the 5 of them decided to start a business together, but they met obstacle after obstacle, and even quarreled for various reasons. After they eventually closed down the shop, each person realized that nothing is more important than the friendship among them, and finally decided to start all over again…

The Story

Woo I totally love the story! It is unique, cute, meaningful and motivating. It’s a great enjoyment watching the 5 characters grow up, learning not to give up, and giving each other support. There is just so much we can learn from this series, and so much we can relate to the characters, because everything is so realistic, so unexaggerated, but cute at the same time. This is the kind of series, you should store it somewhere and dig it out to re-watch once in a while, because every time you re-watch a scene, you might learn something new.

The Characters

Kevin, Charmaine, Tavia, Raymond and Ben each have very different personalities. Each of them portrayed their personalities and struggles very well. I think the casting team did a wonderful job for this part. Everyone was perfect for their role!

Kevin Cheng- Gai Jai!

Kevin is likely to be your favourite character of the series. He is my favourite too (: The reasons? There are too many. Firstly, who doesn’t love kind-hearted, helpful and diligent boys? Kevin is definitely one. Secondly, even though Kevin is hardly educated, he is very mature in his thinking, and always so optimistic. I love his optimism. Third, Kevin’s character is really humorous. He has so many funny expressions, so many witty lines which I wasn’t able to keep track of.. Lastly, he creates sparkling chemistry with almost every character in the series. I love his chemistry with Ben and Raymond the most. These 3 guys are so funny together! In conclusion, I just loved watching Kevin too much, even more than in Hard Fate. I love his comedy skills, I love the way he talks, I love the way he speaks English, and I just love everything about him. I think, Gai Jai is THE perfect boyfriend for me! ~.~ I’m so envious of Charmaine! I don’t know why people failed to recognize this role, but I’m glad Dodo Cheng did


Charmaine She- Mandy Chow

Charmaine plays an intelligent and independent woman in this series. She’s like the nanny of the click, always taking care of those ‘big kids’. I love Charmaine’s character too, because she is very strong and also stylish ~.~. Yes, I love her style. I also love her performance, Charmaine is so natural, and her crying scenes rock! Lastly, I love her cat Eugene. That is amazing, because I usually dislike cats.


Tavia Yeung- Ah Yan

Tavia plays the weak and nervous one here. She is a silly, not-so-smart girl, yet she has to run a transporting company by herself! At the beginning, the company was in a mess. But Kevin and Charmaine taught and helped her a lot, especially Kevin. So slowly, things started improving, and she slowly fell in love with Kevin. I find Tavia very lovely in this series. I also love Tavia’s portrayal of her one-sided love towards Kevin. All the inner-emotions were subtle yet distinct. ‘Haven’t told you the story in my heart’, that’s a line from her song I’ll always remember!

Raymond Lam- Orh Siew/ Daniel

Raymond plays a rich and spoilt boy in this series, but he is not an ordinary rich and spoilt boy. He is actually ambitious, wanting to do something without the help of his family. However, Raymond gives up on his dreams very easily. Whenever something doesn’t go his way, he wants to give up, and finds excuses to run away. I love the way Orh Siew grows so much. And I believe many of us saw our own shadows in Orh Siew. A little bit of diligence, a little bit of laziness, a little bit of arrogance, a little bit of inferiority. Besides that, Raymond is also a big comic factor of the series. I love the way he talks, and the way he phrases his sentences. Kinda funny…


Ben Yeo- Terry

Ben is kinda cute. I hate his mother…

The Parents

Besides looking at the characters themselves, we can see that their parents play and important role in shaping the characters into what they are. Starting with Kevin, his parents are the loveliest, and his family is really well-bonded, even though Kevin is not their real son. Kevin’s father is the impulsive kind, but the way he talks can be really funny. Kevin’s mum is the best, really nice, and really supportive to her son. Both of them are great! Even though they may not be the richest, they give their children the best family, and give the audience the best pleasure of watching their scenes together. Tavia and Charmaine’s father is not so flawless. He is the sickly kind, and the mistakes he made in the past destroyed Tavia and Charmaine’s relationship. Ben’s parents are the ones you will hate the most. The mum is really unreasonable, the dad is really useless. Both Ben’s dad and Ben are so afraid of Ben’s mother that they both became very useless men. Fortunately, Ben met his friends, and gets a little better than his henpecked father. Lastly, we have Raymond’s father. He might not be the best father, because he spoils his son too much, but he really loves Raymond. I just love that actor! I just love the way he talks to Raymond with his hoarse voice. It is really cute. I remember there was one scene in the hospital after Raymond fell from the mountain. The father said, ‘If you don’t want to stay at home then don’t stay at home. If you don’t want your sister to control you I’ll ask her not to. But please don’t risk your life like that and scare your own father!’ The way he said it was so funny!

The Chemistry

Kevin and Charmaine

Their story never started until half of the series was over, but since then, they share so many lovely scenes. They even have a kissing scene in episode 22! I love the bicycle scene, the piggy back scene, the eye drop scene and the scene where Charmaine was drunk and forced Kevin to sing opera for him. Like Kevin said ‘Mandy- high class, high education; Me, low class, no education.’ (That line is really funny) So I was pretty surprised that they ended up together, even though they do make a good couple together. I guess, in the past generation, Tavia’s mother got the man. So in the present generation, to be fair, Charmaine is the one who gets Kevin. ~.~

Kevin and Tavia

I don’t know if you can call them a couple because Tavia’s love was one-sided. But I enjoy their chemistry very much, especially at the beginning, when Kevin keeps helping Tavia and taught her so many things. Even though Kevin only treats Tavia like a sister, he cares a lot about her, and always helps her and supports her. I love the way Kevin always messes around with Tavia’s hair, and he always gives her the ‘silly girl…’ look. Even though they didn’t end up together, I like this relationship very much.

Raymond and Michelle

Even though the way Michelle speaks is unnatural, even though her character is annoying sometimes, I have to admit that this couple is cute. A spoilt rich boy, and a spoilt rich girl, one is the ‘idol’, one is the ‘fan’, can you think of a better combination than that?

Raymond and Charmaine

We can’t call them a couple because it was Raymond who had this short-term infatuation over Charmaine. But you can’t stop laughing at those episodes from around 12-16. I love their chemistry, and even secretly wished they could get together, or at least, have more screen time together! Great chemistry!

Ben Yeo and Natalie Tong

Firstly, I want to say that Natalie Tong is a very talented actress, and I find her very cute. Secondly, Ben and Natalie are such a cute couple, can’t stop laughing at them…

Kevin, Raymond, Charmaine, Tavia, Ben

How can I miss this out? This is the chemistry which supports the whole story. Their relationship is very enjoyable. Every time one person gets into trouble, the friends are there to provide moral support. Until you reach episode 25, when Ben leaves everyone and all the flashbacks came back, you’ll realize how much you’re in love with this chemistry better than anything else!

The Destroyers

The Singaporean Actors

At the beginning, I found many of them to be so annoying (Ben, Michelle and Shawn are exceptions). The beancurd girl, the buck teeth girl, the sissy guy…Fortunately, after episode 7, most of them disappeared.

Ben’s parents

I hate Ben’s mother for being so superficial, and so unreasonable. I hate Ben’s father for being so henpecked, and so useless. Poor Ben, having parents like that… But I do like Ben’s father’s performance. He is funny, and good at acting henpecked.

The Pity Factors (adopting tvbsquare style)

Tavia Yeung vs Charmaine She

This is such a fun series, it is hard to find any pity factors. But sometimes you’ll feel that Tavia and Charmaine’s characters do have a pretty hard life. Compared to Tavia, Charmaine is a little richer, but she can also feel lonely at times, because she does not have the ‘family warmth’. Tavia grew up in complete family, but to keep it going, Tavia has to work really hard, even though she is pretty ‘weak’. Also, she was the one who fell for Kevin first, but Charmaine becomes the one who gets Kevin. So there…

The Best Scenes:

- During the competition, when they were counting the fishes they caught. Raymond’s team won because they caught four extra tiny fishes, each tinier than the other.

- All the Raymond and Charmaine scenes, especially in the office lift. They had SO many scenes in that same lift! Really hilarious!

- When Charmaine was drunk and forced Kevin to sing opera for him. It was simply hilarious!

- When Raymond went to climb the mountain alone. He kept falling, but he refused to give up, because he was too desperate to prove himself after failing so many times. And then, Kevin appears to save him. I love everything Kevin said to Raymond. I also loved Raymond’s performance. That is a very emotional part.

- When Kevin and Tavia got drunk, Tavia touched Kevin’s face, and they played the sub-song she sang. The song says ‘Haven’t told you the story in my heart’. That line had a great impact on me.

- The way Raymond and Michelle got together at the bridge. Very sweet scene!
The Best Quotes:
Kevin: 乐观无奔波

Ben: 对呀对呀!
Raymond: If you think you can, you can!
Raymond: I think I am going to die early, because smart people usually die early

The Performance

As I have said, besides some of the Singaporean actors, everyone did a great job here, especially the 5 main characters. In terms of performance, I would say Charmaine is the best. I just love her style in this series, it goes perfectly with her strong character. In terms of character, Kevin’s character is the nicest. I fell in love with him from the beginning, and loved him more and more all the way till the end. Raymond’s character is the one with some flaws, reflecting the flaws of many teenagers in reality. So his story actually provides a very good lesson for us.

The Verdict
This series is EXCELLENT, and you are going to watch it no matter what (by now, you should have). If you’re looking for intense catfights, or complicating love triangles, this might not be the series for you. BUT you should still watch it, and learn to love a different kind of series. It is a sincere and enlightening production. Below is an exclusive note from the producer Wong Sum Wai. Before starting to watch/retry this series, you might want to read it, because it can help you enjoy the series more. (:

Special: A Note From Producer

一場比賽,幾段友情。

雞仔﹝鄭嘉穎飾﹞、Terry﹝楊志龍飾﹞、鵝少﹝林飾﹞、檸檬﹝楊怡飾﹞與Mandy媽﹝佘詩曼飾﹞,由一場美食比賽相識,友情之幼苗亦從此茁壯成長。

一部描寫年青人為夢想奮鬥、青蔥歲月友共情的電視劇Yummy Yummy》,講述三男兩女五人行,由友誼發展開始,又甚或譜出戀曲的故事。

有云:「三人行必有我師。」五人行裡面,必有取長補短之處,缺一不可。本劇監製王心慰巧妙安排五個角色的性格,五人關係緊緊相扣:「富家子鵝少恃有小聰 明,讀書成績不俗,但欠缺耐力,做事每每輕易放棄;雞仔恰好相反,天性樂觀,脾性、韌力相當好;Terry總是say yes,可以說是隨和,同時亦是無主見;Mandy從小自力更生,性格獨立勇敢;而檸檬就是一個嬌滴滴的女孩,自細於溫室長大,性格純品,不幸家中遇上財 政困難,她唯有告訴自己什麼都『得』,但其實什麼都『唔得』。」

「在劇集開端的比賽中,眾人共同面對比賽挑戰。就算面對同一難題,亦因各人抱不同想法而作不同反應,正正反映他們的性格。處事方法的差異,產生許多同儕間 相處的矛盾,幸而最後因了解而成為好友。比賽後的創業時期,是他們生命中的第一個低潮,面對商業社會的競爭與前所未遇的困難,加上共事期間的利益衝突,對 他們的友情帶來極大的衝擊與考驗。」

考驗、磨練、跌倒、爬起來、再跌倒、再爬起來,本劇所講的,就是這麼簡單。生活在香港這片福地的年青人請謹記,只要你肯去面對,任何問題都會刃而解,遇挫折勿輕易放棄,受過磨練才會成長。一片苦心的王監製將對時下年青人的期望,寄託在五人身上。

最後,雞仔亦不忘提醒大家一句:「樂觀無奔波!」。

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hated Charmaine in this series. I felt bad for Tavia. She got kicked out by Charmaine and she stole the guy she loved. I mean seriosly, Charmaine gets the guy and live a happy life but Tavia gets nothing. Tavia told a white lie and it seems like everything's her fault and she deserves it, but i think wrong. Charmaine shouldn't get the guy. She has everything already, well except family but she has the Job, the Money and guys over her. Tavia on the other hand was still nice to Charmaine even though she kicked her out. Tavia understood and even got Charmaine and Kevin back together. I though Tavia deserves at least somthing...

Anonymous said...

Aww I don't hate Charmaine. Not everyone can be as forgiving as Kevin. It takes a lot to forgive and forget. But I also agree about poor Tavia. She loves Kevin so much, but Kevin hardly knows about it right up to the end, and she is like the only character who ended up alone. We will never get to know who and when will Tavia find his own Mr Right

Anonymous said...

Dj can you please translate what the producer said. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Also what Dodo Cheng said about Kevin's role in this series. Thanks

frostbite said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

I'll be there with you, cuz you are my friend...

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