You long-time (or short-time) readers out there should know by now that romantic comedies aren't exactly this reviewer's favorite genre, so it takes something a bit out of the ordinary to get a positive (or at least non-negative) rating out of the stone that is this website's heart. 2002's Just One Look manages to do that via a mix of romantic comedy with martial arts, sprinkled with a heavy dose of cinematic nostalgia.

Fans of the pop duo Twins (Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung) will probably get much more out of this release than the average moviegoer, as Just One Look's script (written by director Riley Yip) doesn't throw up too many (if any) detours in its cinematic journey, ending up being more of a sentimential look at life in 1970's small town Hong Kong rather than any sort of deep message about the life affirming power of love.

And taken as that, Just One Look is at least moderately successful. Choi and Chung, as per their usual resume, are charming enough to make this film rise above what is really fairly pedestrian material. Which is good, because most of the other actors seem like they are on the set to cash a quick paycheck. In particular, Anthony Wong as the movie's defacto villain looks lost, not knowing whether to play his character for laughs or a serious threat to young love coming together. It recalls the days of his work of the late 1990's, where an expensive medical condition forced Wong to take any and every script that flew by his agent's desk.

Still, in the end, Just One Look manages to provide some fun. The action scenes are helmed by the excellent Stephen Tung Wai and there are many references and gags that are based on older films that actually work, rather than producing groans like many Hong Kong comedies, which sometimes mistake the volume of jokes for how funny they are.

RATING: 5