deschreiber This film had some potential. The premise was reasonably interesting - a mother with two grown sons who are both gay wants grandchildren and tries to ensure that her third son, a high school student, doesn't turn out gay too. It's the kind of thing that might make for a good sitcom. The main actors, Sylvia Chang and Martin Yan, carry the weight of the story easily. Chang is an accomplished actor, and Yan has a good comedic streak. The cinematography and editing are professional, although one wonders why more wasn't made of Singapore as a background. All we see are the old shophouses of Singapore's Chinatown and some parkland; there are a lot more locations that could have given the film more visual interest.The real drags on the film were the script and a number of the actors. The sons were wooden. This was particularly unfortunate in the case of the youngest son, who played an important role in the film. The actor added nothing to the part. The son who worked for an airline was even worse. Mélanie Laurent, playing the girl from France who was going to change everything, had some excellent moments when she was being playful and teasing, but overall the script didn't give her enough opportunities.The script allowed several good scenes, but generally it was poorly done. Where can one begin? The son is asked to show the girl, who has just arrived in Singapore, the nightlife for young people. He takes her to a cemetery. Yes, I know, he did not want to take her anywhere, but taking her to a cemetery is just silly and implausible. He is a total jerk for the entire movie, yet when the girl falls off her bicycle and is nearly hit by a car, the boy helps her up - and this is enough for her to invite him into her bed that night. Completely implausible, except perhaps if you take the racist view that French girls have no morals and give out sex as a reward, like candy to babies. She was a university student, he was still in high school, he had a repulsive personality with no interests except bicycle racing - it's inconceivable that she would fall for him. At one point she is found staring at water going down a drain; when asked, she remarks that it swirls in the opposite direction than in France. The point is that she is an educated, intelligent girl. Much later in the movie she confesses that she had lied about the water going down the drain. I don't know what the point of that was. (In fact, water does swirl in different directions above and below the equator.) The climax of the movie takes place in a cooking competition, where Martin Yan unaccountably lets the boy stand in for him to compete against his own mother. Silly, silly, stupid plotting. Almost the entire last hour of the film is filler; it should have been cut to about 15-20 minutes.I enjoyed the first half hour or so and was expecting to be mildly entertained, but by the end, some of the acting and the stupidity piled upon stupidity of the script spoiled it all for me. I've given it a rating of only 3.

the amorphousmachine Aptly called 'Rice Rhapsody' in Australia, this comedy is not very funny nor very satisfying. The basic plot is a single mother and restaurant owner has raised three sons all by her lonesome. Two of them are gay, and she fears the youngest may also be that way inclined. So, she comes up with a plan to hook him up with a sexy French student named Sabine.All in all, this film just doesn't work and the chemistry between Sabine and Leo doesn't gel. The film seems indecisive in which direction it wants to go, and the male lead is rather unpleasant throughout the whole movie. And, why the heck was one character called "Batman"? This is quite a lazy comment, but 90 or so minutes really dragged for me- especially towards the end.**1/2 out of *****!

cameron-77 I had heard of this film but didn't get to see it until it'd been selected as one of the top 10 Chinese language films of 2005 by the Chinese Film Critics Association. It certainly deserved this prestigious honour because this dramatic comedy has a solid story, good performances, beautiful scenery and amazing music.The story is about a single mother, Jen (veteran Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang), and her three not-so-model sons. One by one the sons fail her expectations in various ways, mostly by becoming gay. In desperation she, with the help of a friend, Kim Chui (Martin Yan in a surprisingly natural and understated performance), come up with a plan to make sure her youngest son Leo stays straight and remains her "pride and joy." This film deals with several phenomena in the modern Chinese society: homosexuality, which could be a metaphor for any "undesirable" quality the kids take on against their parents' wish; a middle-aged woman fighting social pressures; and the change in the parent-child relationship as the younger generation of Chinese moves away from the traditional "obey your elderly" doctrine. The best part is all these important issues are revealed in a very entertaining comedy of manners!Sylvia Chang is wonderful as the "suffering" mother. The character of Jen is like many mothers, particularly Chinese mothers - strong and resilient. Her love for her sons is expressed through feeding and providing for them, and choosing for them what's best for them. The best moment in the film for me is when Jen realizes all her boys have grown up and have a mind of their own. It is now up to her to change her ways and discover that the best way to love them is to love them just the way they are.

ken_lee54 Review: Rice Rhapsody (2004) By Ken LeeThough director Kenneth Bi's _Rice Rhapsody_ (2004) generates much interest primarily of its homosexuality theme (that troubled the Singapore Board of Film Censorship inasmuch as its month-long deliberation for the film's wide release in the city state in which the film is set and made), it explores at its core generational conflict; specifically, how a single parent's inability to adapt to modern circumstances leads to disillusionment and more misunderstanding. So it'd be misleading to categorize this as a "Gay" film, per se.The plot is set in contemporary Singapore's Chinatown. Sylvia Chang, wonderful and enarmoured with supposed Singlish, plays a single mother (Jen) struggling with the uncertainty surrounding the sexual orientation of her third son, Leo (played by a certain delectable newcomer, Tan LePham), when his two elder siblings are both out and proud, much to her dismay, bringing issues of same-sex marriage and their boy-friends back to dinner table discussion. The lives of the family are going to be changed with the arrival of a French foreign exchange student, Sabine, played by a cooky Mélanie Laurent, who has a thing or two to show about finding common grounds, and knowing what's truly important in life. The issue of homosexuality isn't a "modern" circumstance, of course. Its open acceptance (or tolerance) and embraced and head-on examination as an "idea", however, is, especially in this city-state notorious for its anti-gay "lifestyles" stance. So even if the movie isn't without its flaw, it's still ultimately uplifting, and a welcome addition to a growing list of movies purport to examine social, cultural and political aspects of the city-state, from "12 Storeys" to "Eating Air" to "Chicken Rice War".Recommended.Little known facts: Director Kenneth Bi is the son of Ivy Ling (Ling Bo) who is a mega star in Shaw's Huang Mei Diao era. She has a cameo appearance in this film.