Product description

Combination Platter [DVD] [1993] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Price: £5.07
Average customer rating: 3.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 9781417200436
ISBN : 141720043X
Label : Koch Lorber Films
Manufacturer : Koch Lorber Films
Publisher : Koch Lorber Films
Release date : 2005-01-11
Title : Combination Platter [DVD] [1993] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]
Actor : Array
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1993-01-01
Region code : 1
Running time : 84
Studio : Koch Lorber Films
Theatrical releaseDate : 1993
MPN : 3024

Customer reviews

review by: pepper flower date: 2007-07-12 rating:

Not the Hot Spicey Dish I Ordered
Not the Hot and Spicey Dish I Ordered, May 30, 2007 br /Although the subject of the film is very timely and contemporary because it deals with illegal immigration, as a whole the film is rather bland. It deals with Robert a Chinese illegal alien trying to get his green card. Robert is a waiter at Szechuan Inn, a Chinese restaurant in Flushing, New York. He saves his pay and tips to send money home to his parents in China. He writes to them regularly and tells them what they want to hear: that he is dating a nice Chinese girl (which happens to be untrue). The restaurant occasionally gets unannounced visits from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services who inspect the premises to round up illegal aliens - so far Robert has managed to elude them. Eventually, Robert hopes to receive his green card so he can remain legally in the U.S. A good friend advises him of his only two options: either his employer needs to sponsor him or he must get married, even if it is a "marriage of convenience" [he pays someone to stay married to him for two years] so he can remain legally. br / br /His friend introduces him to an American Chinese girl who is very outspoken and self-absorbed. She knows no Chinese. They negotiate for her to marry him for the sum of $25,000. Unfortunately, she senses his desperation and refuses, unless he will pay her $50,000. The sum is too large, he can not afford it. The friend provides him another option, date an American woman and try to marry her. Robert finds this choice uncomfortable but he has little choice so he goes along with the plan. He is introduced to Claire, an American young lady who works with computers. Their first date is to a movie, where Robert nearly falls asleep and Claire raves about the film, while Robert agrees with everything she says since he does not remember anything about it. Unfortunately, when Robert tells Claire he has no green card, she believes he is dating her only to obtain one and she drops him. In the whole film, there is just one ironic twist at the ending regarding the American Chinese girl to whom Robert was first introduced. Robert is asked to place a message in a Chinese fortune cookie by the American guy she is dating. Robert works very hard to remove the previous fortune and place the new one inside ... Unfortunately this last scene does not redeem the entire film. br / br /There are definitely some funny moments in the film, for example, when Robert is asked by his American bus boy how to say, "Luck off" (substitute "F" for the "L") in Chinese, which he *does* teach him. Another amusing scene is when the waiters demand the food be ready quicker and they exchange vulgarities in Chinese which nearly results in a physical fight. Unfortunately overall, the film is rather mild and bland, not at all what I had expected since it won a Sundance Film Festival Award for screenwriting. I hoped to see some unexpected, out-of-the-ordinairy, surprise behavior in Robert's character or some complex turn in the plot but none of these occured. The film seemed to deflate. It ended on a rather flat note. While it is a film worth viewing, do not expect excitement or any falling off your seat laughter. It does however provide "a slice of life" [as stated by David Mills, Washington Post] from the point of view of a Chinese illegal immigrant but that is about all. Erika Borsos [pepper flower] br /

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