LOVE IN TAIPEI: A Pleasant But Predictable YA Adaptation

While I haven’t read Abigail Hing Wen‘s Loveboat, Taipei, I feel like my genuine appreciation for To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and the genuine pleasure I often get from young adult tales in general, make me a fairly receptive viewer.

Arvin Chen‘s movie gets a more concise title with Love in Taipei (while avoiding any infringement on Aaron Spelling) and with it comes an airbrushed, glossy picture postcard aesthetic. Regardless, I’m still excited when I get to see Asian-American stories like this being normalized; my hope is that this market will just continue to grow because the audience seems to be there.

There’s also a sense that the novelization comes through with the voiceover. In many other circumstances, this feels like a storytelling crutch. Here it somehow fits the form and what we expect from an up-and-coming YA novel.

Ever (Ashley Liao) is our diffident if immaculately pretty and intelligent heroine. Her Taiwanese-American parents are so proud of her ambitions for medical school, and they’ve given her a thoughtful gift of a cultural experience abroad in Taipei. All the better to get in touch with her roots.

The first person she meets on the journey is the worldly-wise Sophie Ha (Chelsea Zhang). She leans into the garrulous shtick awful hard, and it’s a bit unbearable, but you get over it soon enough. Overwhelming personalities can wear you down until you come to accept or even appreciate them.

The second person Ever meets is “Boy Wonder,” Rick Woo (Ross Butler), who is the apple of her mother’s eye — the model of perfect Asianhood. A super cringey meet-cute debacle is facilitated by Sophie, who happens to be his cousin. From thenceforward, we have the romantic tension needed for the rest of the movie.

With her two new guides Ever finds out Love Boat is a whole cultural experience on its own. And they aren’t speaking about the classroom. As they explore the giant hotel, it’s evident the summer program is an excuse for one big party. I couldn’t help thinking the story takes the ski trip elements of To All The Boys and turns it into a concentrated movie by throwing a lot of teenagers together, albeit transposed to Taiwan.

The movie is replete with affluent, young Asian eye candy, and it feels like the progression of the genre giving the world of YA its necessary Crazy Rich Asian treatment. As Sophie proclaims “Asians are cool now!”

We mentioned the studly Rick, but the other obvious object of Ever’s affections is the shaggy-haired bro Xavier (Nico Hiraga) who she happens to meet while she’s pirouetting on a rooftop. He’s just sitting there chilling; it’s not creepy because the story requires it.

Taipei  Fairy Tale

Her friend Megan back home invokes the age-old advice to “Let loose!” and “Live a little!” It’s always the buttoned-up types who go crazy when no adults are around. With a burdensome 10 pm curfew in place, a few of the rebels lead a “jailbreak” ignited by Xavier’s exploits. Ever vows to go with them so she can visit someone…

It’s part of the fun and games as they race to grab cabs into the city; the world opens up and with it, the story does too. Music plays a major part in the movie and the city soundscape becomes a fine extension of the immersive cultural experience.

One of the movie’s other conduits is the free-spirited Auntie Shu (Cindy Cheung). She lives nearby in Taipei. Ever aspires to be like her. She owns an art co-op and lives an enviable life full of self-expression.

Auntie even chides Ever that she cannot learn culture in a classroom. It becomes one of the story’s very gentle thematic ideas. The other one is found between the tension of passion — Ever loves dance — versus practically. There are her parents’ wishes and her own individuality to contend with.

Ever also goes on a street food “date” taking in the city with the Boy Wonder as they start a burgeoning quasi-romance. It becomes evident that she is living the good life without much conflict. But she still doesn’t know what she wants, caught between two poles.

We’re waiting for the hammer to drop, but it never really does. The closest thing is the extravagant party put on by Rick’s family. Ever dresses up in a lovely new outfit like Cinderella at the ball only to receive a mild reality check. The rest of the picture is what you expect; if nothing else it’s stellar wish fulfillment. Pardon the pun, but she lives happily ever after.

Conclusion: Love in Taipei

My verdict is that Love in Taipei is sweet if innocuous entertainment. Its greatest asset might be the world of Love Boat itself and, of course, the locale of Taipei.

Against this full-bodied milieu, the storyline feels a bit flimsy and inconsequential. All the manufactured moments are what the rom-com formula is predicated on, and still, these are the most cloying and unsatisfying bits. It feels like it could function as a hefty tourism promo or exquisite background imagery for karaoke parlors.

It’s warm and fuzzy niceness served up in a delectable way. There’s nothing wrong with that. But while it plays as a kind of Taiwanese fairy tale, there’s hardly any darkness beyond an impending typhoon. Anyone who’s lived under these conditions almost takes them for granted as a common occurrence.

For everyone who has read the book, I imagine there is a play-by-play wish fulfillment, far closer to a Spelling-produced Love Boat or Fantasy Island than I originally conceived. And I will admit there’s always something aspirational about watching beautiful people have a luxuriant, good time.

However, I do wish there was more here. As an impartial observer, I was hoping for a slightly different riff on the tried and true story beats. Because pleasant surprises can be the most agreeable breed. Love in Taipei is pleasant but predictable. I’ll let viewers decide if this is a bad thing.

Love in Taipei is scheduled to be released by Paramount+ on August 10, 2023

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