Double Happiness

A coming-of-age, culture-clash yarn with some pleasing twists, "Double Happiness" is the story of a 22-year-old Chinese-Canadian woman who is torn between the old-world customs of her parents and the Western influences that have shaped her own life.

"I always wondered why we couldn't be `The Brady Bunch," she says at one point, adding after a pause, "The `Brady Bunch' never needed subtitles."

Jade Li (Sandra Oh) is charming and funny but not very tolerant when it comes to her parents' old-fashioned demands. She is in fairly constant conflict with them — especially her strict father — and really bristles when they try to marry her off to any one of a string of traditional Chinese lads. (When her mother makes her doff her usual punk look for a more conventional dress, she moans, "I look like Connie Chung.")

An aspiring actress, Jade finds the frustrations of her identity crisis intensified by the auditions she regularly attends. She would like to play Blanche DuBois and Joan of Arc, but casting directors won't consider her for anything outside of the expected Asian stereotypes.

Things only get worse after she meets a young Caucasian man outside a punk club and allows romance to follow. And while she realizes that with all the other conflicts in her life she'd better not bring a white boy home to meet the folks, she's also wracked with guilt.

Writer-director Mina Shum does a terrific job of blending comedy and drama, yet manages to avoid easy sentimentality. And her portrait of a traditional Chinese family feels as truthful as it is humorous and touching — right down to the bittersweet conclusion.

What really makes the film click, however, is the effective cast (despite some unevenly performed supporting roles). Best is the delightful, unaffected Sandra Oh (who deservedly won the Canadian version of the best-actress Oscar). She is quite a find and utterly winning in the lead role. The other cast members are also quite good, especially Frances You as Jade's sister and Stephen Chang and Alannah Ong as her parents. Change and Ong are quite convincing as they convey strict parental concern tempered with love and an inability to adapt to life in the West.

"Double Happiness" is rated PG-13 for a sex scene and some language.