What does it take to become a star?

Wow! 92% of Flixsters and 88% of "critics" liked this one. Okay, I just have to preface this with two statements:

You all know how much I like Gong Li, right? She's the bomb!

And no, Walter, I did NOT add this to our little list of films I can't sit all the way through -- although I was tempted.

I never thought I'd write this, but . . . this lengthy little film became extremely tedious after Gong Li arrived on the scene.

What great potential this one had. When I think about folks like Jackie Chan having come up through the Bejing Opera training ranks, I just have to pray that his personal story had happier days.

Corporal punishment. I hear exhausted teachers joking about this all the time. I know they don't mean it, but they say: Yes, the laying on of the strap could be very useful" . . . I guess. In this movie, well, it's actually funny at times. Why? I have no idea. I am totally opposed to the idea of beating students. Ever. But really, what does it take to become a star? Six fingers? No, "freaks" are apparently out. Thank goodness for sharp knives . . . I guess.

Great until . . . sadly he says . . . Gong Li comes on the scene. From then on? Well, the initial tension between the two males is the great energy that pushes the first half of the film. I believe the introduction of a (??another??) love interest, with Gong Li, is supposed to heighten the tension between the two, but ironically, for me at least, she absolutely blocks up the energy, the flow, the qi/chi/ki/mana of the story.

Oh well, I bow to Walter's recommendation. Walter, what say you? Thumbs up or thumbs down?