Well, let's just be blunt and say that "Summer Holiday" (aka "Ha yat dik mo mo cha") pretty much is the epitome of romantic comedies to make it from the Hong Kong cinema in the 2000s.
Sure, "Summer Holiday" was watchable and enjoyable enough for what it turned out to be. However, it was just a bit too mundane and generic for my liking. It was like watching essentially any other romantic comedy of that era. As such, "Summer Holiday" from writer Susan Chan and director Jingle Ma just failed to stand out amidst a tsunami of likeminded romantic comedies.
The storyline, whilst being very generic, was salvaged by the cast, which included the likes of Sammi Cheng and Richie Jen, whom also were much akin to the 2000s of Hong Kong movies.
If you enjoy romantic comedies, then "Summer Holiday" is well worth watching, and even more so if you have an interest in the Hong Kong cinema. However, if you watch this movie for the entertainment value and don't have any particular interest in the romantic comedy genre, then this is by no means an outstanding movie.
My rating of "Summer Holiday" is a mediocre five out of ten star. Yeah, it was watchable, but it was just like any other random romantic comedy.
Plot summary
A Hong Kong woman gets fired and heads to a Malaysian island to sell her half of a beach to a resort developer. Her cousin's sold his half to a local man who doesn't want to sell. It starts with hate between them but slowly it changes.
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Generic, yet watchable...
Romance on Paradise Island
Summer Holiday is about a Hong Kong (Sammi Cheng) girl who loses her office job and finds that her boyfriend has been cheating on her, and travels to an island in Malaysia to sell her half of a beach that her cousin gave her. Only then does she know that her cousin sold the other half to his best friend (Richie Ren) to pay off debts. In her quest to convince him to sell, they begin to fall in love on a summer holiday in paradise.
Summer Holiday is a story of falling in and falling out of love. The scenery is so beautiful, it even made me want to go back to Malaysia once more! A romantic comedy, there are plenty of laughs throughout the film, and interspersed with some really touching moments. The film, however, is very much a fairy tale, though the characters do seem very real. Cheng does do a lot for her character although Ren, being a non-Cantonese speaker does stumble occasionally in the dialogue. But the film is well-directed and it a perfect watch for couples!