By Zhao Kun

Not a fan of Feng Xiaogang's movies, I still had a glimmer of hope for the second episode of If You Are the One only because the rebellious and outspoken screenwriter Wang Shuo joined the crew. But to my surprise, the latest installment is passable except for the most crucial component, its script. Sadly, If You Are the One 2 merely offers a tedious and over-acted melodrama about a trial marriage.

The movie continues the odd-couple courtship story with the same lead cast Ge You and Shu Qi. After all the troubles, misunderstandings and disturbances in the first episode, the serious-minded Xiaoxiao (Shu Qi) can't yet make up her mind to marry Qin Fen (Ge You), even though the rich and bald retiree makes a proposal to her on the Great Wall. Then they decide on a trial marriage, not in Hokkaido, Japan, anymore but in a luxury villa on Hainan Island.

Director and co-writer Feng Xiaogang probably already realized that the couple has left little on offer in terms of drama after the first chapter two years ago, and just created another mismatched couple (played by Yao Chen and Sun Honglei) for the latest romantic saga, starting with a wry divorce ceremony of the two and ending with the death of the husband. Despite the fact that Shu Qi and Ge You are the first names in the credits, Yao Chen and Sun Honglei easily stole the limelight. Their ingeniously devised divorce ceremony in the opening scene prevents the whole movie turning into a waste of time.

Nevertheless, the two storylines do not mesh. In the end, they only make a story without any center, not to mention no development and no climax. The excessive and stale depiction of the trial marriage is like a huge malignant tumor. So how in the world can you expect this hopeless patient to dance?

In the end, the voice of Zhang Hanyu hints that the story has yet to finish, and might, in fact, last all the way until 2030. The director, more skillful at product placement than directing a movie, is ambitious to make the series into a franchise. But will millions of movie goers sit through two hours of lifeless humor when its third installment hits the cinema?

On my 1-to-10 scale, I give the movie a FIVE.