''Be There or Be Square'' () is a 1998 Chinese

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

directed by

Feng Xiaogang Feng Xiaogang (; born 18 March 1958 in Beijing) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and politician. He is well known in China as a highly successful commercial filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well at the box of ...

, produced by Beijing Forbidden City Film Co. Ltd., Beijing Film Studio, Zhongji Modern Commercial, Beijing Zhengtian Media & Culture Centre, and Sleiman/Tyrol Films.

Ge You Ge You (born April 19, 1957) is a Chinese actor. A native of Beijing, often with a bald shaven pate, he is considered by many to be one of the most recognizable acting personalities in China. He became the first Asian actor to win the Cannes ...

and

Xu Fan Xu Fan (, born 16 August 1967) is a Chinese actress and Asian Film Awards winner. She married film director Feng Xiaogang Feng Xiaogang (; born 18 March 1958 in Beijing) is a Chinese film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and politician ...

star as

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

natives working in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, whose paths constantly cross in a foreign city. They attempt to balance work with friendship/love in spite of mounting disasters each time they meet.

Plot

Freelancer Liu Yuan (Ge You) is a carefree Beijing native seeking out a living in Los Angeles, working as an occasional film extra and part-time insurance agent. While helping a Beijing film crew scout for a suburban mansion, he encounters Li Qing (Xu Fan), a former acquaintance house sitting for a wealthy Taiwanese family. Liu convinces Li Qing she lacks the requisite skills to survive in an American city, and buys her an air ticket to fly back to Beijing. The two part at the airport, expecting never to meet again. The two run into each other a year later in L.A. As it turns out Li did not leave the U.S.; instead, she now rents a cheap apartment and works as a cleaner. Still his former carefree self living in a

travel trailer A caravan, travel trailer, camper, tourer or camper trailer is a trailer towed behind a road vehicle to provide a place to sleep which is more comfortable and protected than a tent (although there are fold-down trailer tents). It provides th ...

, Liu has turned to selling cemetery plots. Their relationship seems "jinxed" as the two encounter a hold-up at a restaurant, then the unlucky duo end up arrested by the

LAPD The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...

after they worked for a traveling agency without realizing it is actually a human smuggling ring in disguise. Li Qing finds their relationship unnerving enough to stop contact, vowing never to meet Liu again. A year passes. Liu Yuan puts a classified ad in local Chinese language newspaper looking for Li, who now has her own florist shop and is teaching Mandarin part-time to Chinese Americans. Li remembers their relationship fondly and the two set up a Mandarin school for LAPD cops who patrol the LA Chinatown area. Through various mishaps, Liu makes no secret of his romantic interest in Li, but it is only after an elaborate hoax from Liu that Li realizes she values him as well. However, news arrives from Beijing that Liu's mother has suffered a serious

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

. Liu heads back to Beijing to fulfill his filial duties and parts with Li, not wanting to pressure her to follow him home as Li has just obtained a

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

after years of hard work in the US. On the airplane heading home, Liu has a troubled dream that he will not see Li again until decades later at an old folks' home. When he wakes up he finds to his delight Li Qing sitting next to him. Just then, the airplane meets with technical mishap and seems to be heading for a crash – another mishap in their long line of "hexed" meet-ups. In the face of imminent death, the couple profess their love for each other, but miraculously, the technical problem is resolved just moments after their mutual love declarations. The two decide to get hitched immediately on landing – but only after Li discovers Liu is sporting dentures after their first kiss.

Cast

''as'' Liu Yuan (刘元) *

''as'' Li Qing (李清)

Box office and award

The film is a Feng Xiaogang ''hesui pian'' ("New Year celebratory film"), screened during the 1999

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a new year on the traditional lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly referred to as the Spring Festival () a ...

to boost

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is fre ...

takings, and it earned 30M Yuan in theaters. It received the "Best Feature Film - Hua Biao Prize in 1998", awarded to the Beijing Forbidden City Film Co. Ltd., Beijing Film Studio, Zhongji Modern Commercial, Beijing Zhengtian Media & Culture Centre by the China State Administration of Broadcast, Film, & TV in May 1999.

External links

* *
''Be There or Be Square''
at the Chinese Movie Database * {{Feng Xiaogang 1998 films 1990s Mandarin-language films 1998 romantic comedy films Films directed by Feng Xiaogang Chinese romantic comedy films Films set in the United States Chinese New Year films