Movie review: ‘Alls Well, Ends Well 2012’

The genre known as the Chinese New Year movie generally gives off a whiff of the family-friendly, the silly and sentimental, and the Hong Kong import “All’s Well, Ends Well 2012” is no exception. This latest installment in a series of goofy romantic comedies — with only a title to bind them and a year to differentiate them — proves that antic dippiness isn’t strictly the province of American comedies.

Using the connective meet-cute tissue of a website that acts as a platonic matchmaker for women who need chivalrous men to help them out, the film whips up four ridiculous tales of role-playing, including a blind ballerina (Lynn Xiong) who asks a nerdy romance novelist (Chapman To) to show her what being in love feels like and a beautiful female photographer (Kelly Chen) who callously flirts with a cocky hunk (Louis Koo) so he’ll be her art project.

Though veteran stars Sandra Ng and Donnie Yen manage some loony appeal as, respectively, a has-been pop singer and never-been rock musician, this erratic, unfunny hodgepodge of childish farce and drippy emotion — the actors steered toward maximum mugging by directors Chan Hing Kai and Janet Chun — is all cartoon and no charm.

“All’s Well, Ends Well 2012.” No MPAA rating; in Cantonese with Chinese and English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes. At AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, Monterey Park; AMC Puente Hills 20, Rowland Heights.