Cantonese: Yuen fun yau Take 2
Mandarin: Yuan fen you Take 2
English: Destiny Has A Take 2

Computer firm employee Emma (Athena Chu Yan) spies a dollar coin on the floor of a bus one morning and pockets it for good luck. She soon has plenty of luck and it is all bad, tearing her dress, getting laid off, being stood up by her executive boyfriend, credit card trouble, etc. Within only three days, her life is all but destroyed, leading the girl to consider suicide. Co-worker Anson Cheung (Nick Cheung Kar-fai) was the one who dropped the dollar and knows about the "curse" of bad luck that comes with picking up lost money. However, his repeated attempts to tell Emma that he can reverse her misfortune are met with scorn and disbelief. He is finally able to secretly communicate a solution to her and Emma successfully goes back in time three days. This allows her to bypass the earlier pitfalls but an unexpected return of the coin puts everything in jeopardy once more.

Stories in which characters can alter time are intrinsically interesting but also tricky; the plot twists must be clever and the audience must really care about the principals and their fate or succumb to boredom watching them go through essentially the same scenario again (and again and again, depending on the fix they are in). Athena Chu often seems cast in roles where her looks are about the only reason for the viewer to be interested in her character. Emma is largely another example of this but Chu does what she can with the material, as does Cheung, giving a far more sedate performance than most Western viewers will expect from him. However, they are let down by a lack of fresh ideas and a premise centered around "Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover," an elementary axiom that the film still feels the need to illustrate for us over and over. A final reel twist involving Emma's fiance is achingly absurd and the "demonic" coin is rendered via some particularly awful computer animation. Another bad idea is the inclusion of DJs Fast Beat and Slow Beat as a comical Greek chorus. Their appearances are simply jarring but, admittedly, probably work for the local audience familiar with their schtick (it does not help that these bits are not translated). Marco Mak Chi-sin (COP ON A MISSION) fails to add any visual interest but does coax an indelible performance from Monica Chan Fat-yung (in a supporting role, as Emma's scatterbrained best friend and fellow employee), whose energy and enthusiasm periodically jolt the film back to life. LOVE CORRECTION does manage a few affecting moments but, in the end, feels more contrived than magical, failing to realize the potential of a shaky but workable premise. Amanda Lee Wai-man, Yuen King-tan, Emily Kwan Bo-wai, Tats Lau Yee-tat, Lee Siu-kei, and Gabriel Harrison also appear.

Universe #5521 (Hong Kong label) Dolby Digital 5.1 Sync sound Cantonese and post-synced Mandarin Language Tracks Optional Subtitles in English and Chinese (Traditional or Simplified) 8 Chapters Illustrated in the Menu With Clips Letterboxed (1.65:1) Coded for ALL Regions NTSC Format 97 Minutes Contains mild language and mildly crude content

DVD menu courtesy Universe.

The transfer is sharp but a bit hazy and the 5.1 re-mix is very tame and uninteresting (this is not the kind of film that calls for audio fireworks anyway). A trailer (which contains a few snippets not in the finished film) and Star Files on Nick Cheung, Athena Chu, and Monica Chan are the only extras.

LOVE CORRECTION is available at Poker Industries.