By Zhao Kun

Primarily a road movie, Lost on Journey is about a rich businessman (Xu Zheng) traveling home to reunite with his family, while at the same time a dairy worker (Wang Baoqiang) sets out to ask for back wages owed to him before the eve of the festival. Both are headed for Changsha.

The two characters meet and come across a never-ending streak of bad luck. Their flights are grounded, railways collapse, they get into a car accident, it never ends. All the while they have to depend on one another to survive.

Director Yip Waiman delves deep into the Spring Festival phenomenon, and actors Xu Zheng and Wang Baoqiang shine as comic geniuses. Fuelled by witty dialogue, the movie draws plenty of laughs along the duo's wayward journey, even as some of the plot verges on implausibility.

The movie also managed to reveal real truth in its characters' misery during its first half hour, giving audiences the sense that it will stand out.

But Lost on Journey eventually crushes this promising opportunity, and soon resorts to cliché. As a result, viewers waiting for a ground-breaking statement on contemporary Chinese society will find this movie's disappointingly harmonious ending hackneyed and not worth the pay-off.

On a scale of one to 10, Lost on Journey gets a homesick 6.5.