Jump to the good stuff: The Story | Some Thoughts | The Final Verdict
The Story:
Marry My Dead Body is a gay comedy about a homophobic police officer who is forced into a ghost marriage to a gay man.
A ghost marriage is when someone marries a deceased person. It can be done by using a priest as a matchmaker, or by leaving out a red envelope with gifts from the deceased person to attract his/her mate. You can find out more about ghost marriages here.
In Marry My Dead Body, Mao “Mao Mao” Pang-yu (Austin Lin) is the victim of a hit and run before he can marry his boyfriend. Mao Mao’s grandmother, Mao Chen A-lan (Wang Man-Chiao), puts together a red envelope with gifts along with some nail and hair clippings from Mao Mao and sets it on the ground.
When homophobic police officer Wu Ming-han (Greg Hsu) finds the envelope, Mao Chen is pleased to have found a spouse for her grandson. Wu Ming-han is told that if he doesn’t marry Mao Mao, he will suffer a lifetime of misfortune. Wu Ming-han tries to walk away from the envelope only to have it follow him, along with Mao Mao’s ghost. A series of unfortunate accidents happen at work, and he gets demoted.
Wanting to stop the bad luck that’s plaguing him, Wu Ming-han agrees to the ghost marriage. On the evening of his wedding, Mao Mao’s ghost appears, causing the homophobic Wu Ming-han distress. Mao Mao explains that he can be reincarnated if Wu Ming-han grants his dying wish. And with that, Wu Ming-han is tasked with finding out who killed Mao Mao.
Some Thoughts:
While Marry My Dead Body has lots of action and an enjoyable story, it’s lacking in comedy. The banter between Mao Mao and Wu Ming-han is fun when they first meet, but the tone changes as the film progresses. And since this isn’t a romance, there is no sexual tension between Mao Mao and Wu Min-han. Marry My Dead Body has one joke that gets played out in the first 45 minutes.
As an action movie, Marry My Dead Body would succeed if they cut half an hour from it. The movie has car chases, police raids, a fun mystery, and lots of gun fights. When the mystery of who killed Mao Mao gets mixed up with an ongoing police investigation of a drug lord, the story gets interesting again. Unfortunately, the plot tries too hard to be overly complicated and takes too long to end. The final chase and gun fight gets bogged down in so much forced drama that it becomes dull and tedious.
The Final Verdict:
Sadly, Marry My Dead Body promises a good time that it can’t deliver.
You can watch Marry My Dead Body on Netflix.
