High school girl Dan (Ella Chen) is the film`s heroine, stuck in a case of arrested development with an innate boy-hating tendency that`s become her trademark over the years. All this changes, however, when she has a chance encounter with teen idol Justin (Mike He), who`s using her school as a set for his upcoming film. When Dan is chosen to replace the injured female lead, a relationship develops between the two, and she soon learns of Justin`s hidden love for baking. No surprises here, folks.
Bad Girls is a film that tries too hard not to be taken seriously; the movie is peppered with manga-like visuals, over-the-top acting, and characters that speak like they`ve been lifted from a second-rate doujinshi. The effect is cute at first, but gets cloying after the first 10 minutes, and director Seven Wong makes little effort to create any sort of real connection between the audience and this cartoonish endeavour. The leads and the supporting cast, while easy on the eyes, have hardly any material to work with in terms of character development. The result is inevitably superficial.
The contrived fluffiness of Bad Girls does little to conceal the fact that there`s hardly anything driving the film in terms of plot or character development; as a result, the ostensible emotional climax – which centres on the hot male lead professing his love for the reformed boy-hater via a home-baked confection – falls flat as unleavened bread.
Too trite for romance lovers and with nary a chuckle to its name despite its over-the-top cartoonish-ness, Bad Girls has nothing to offer audiences except for some visual eye candy.
Summary: Unfortunately, just `bad` would have sufficed. Class dismissed.
Rating: 1.5/5 stars
Raphael Lim