微笑在我心 (Wei Xiao Zai Wo Xin) – Always Smile

Cast:
Zhang Jia Ni 张嘉倪 as Tian Wei
Ming Dao 明道 as Liang Yu Fang
Achel Chang 張芯瑜 as Du Yun Er
Jill Hsu 徐婕兒 as Zhao Xi
Huang Meng 黄勐 as Yan Shi Guang
Ma Ke 馬可 as Lei Hong

Genre:
Romance

Plot:
Liang Yu Fang is the grandson of a large hotel owner and is next in line to take over the reigns. There is one problem though, Yu Fang despises the responsibility and instead wants to pursue his own dreams as a design artist. When he returns back from his oversea studies, both his grandfather and older sister force him to start learning about the hotel.

At about the same time he meets Tian Wei, a hard-working and innocent girl who lives with her alcoholic father and autistic younger brother. Because her father tries to drink away his depression all the time, the running of the household and moneymaking is left to Tian Wei. Day in day out she works multiple jobs and still doesn’t have enough to pay off her father’s death. The only things that keep her going are the thought of curing her brother and the memories of her departed mother. Her mother died because of singing, and even though Tian Wei dreams of becoming a singer, she is not allowed to sing.

Without knowing Yu Fang’s true identity, she slowly falls for his devoted charm. What will happen when she discovers the truth? What if there was another woman at the hotel who was plotting something evil against the Liang family? When Yu Fang’s sister and grandfather try to match him with Zhao Xi, how will Yu Fang deal with Tian Wei and his family? In order to make money, Tian Wei starts singing again, will she ever become a star? When everything seems to be falling apart, will Tian Wei and Yu Fang be able to keep their love?

Review:
I normally stay away from idol dramas. I guess this is pretty close to an idol drama, but apparently it was aired on cctv and hunan tv so its a mainland china idol drama. Most of the cast have appeared at some time or another in Taiwanese dramas. The thing that perked my interest to this drama was Zhang Jia Ni. When I started watching Dreams Link, her character and innocent personality attracted me greatly. Although I never finished that drama (I think I will eventually) I thought she was a very beautiful actress. I tentatively started watching it, and I must admit, I was a little disappointed.

The dialogue and story line are very cliche. Not only was it cliche, it was extremely poorly written. To be blunt, I found the plot to be very predictable, very dragged out, and very un-stimulating, if there could be such a description. This doesn’t mean the drama didn’t have its highlights. In this drama, I realized that Zhang Jia Ni just has the looks of a ‘good’ character. Her voice and actions and also kind nature let her fit the role well, but if she were to act another type of character, I don’t have the confidence to say she would be a good actress. That is beside the point however, since I enjoyed watching her.

The supporting cast seemed to be decent, and I must applaud Jill for a decently invigorating performance as the antagonist. It seemed the drama revealed her story in a poor manner and I felt that it could have been done better. Her expressions often give away her true thoughts, but at the same time, they really confused me about how she felt about the other characters. I believe her acting is headed in the right direction, but in order to be a more dynamic character and affirm her thoughts on each character, she needs to better distinguish her different emotions. A lot of times I couldn’t tell what her true intentions were in certain scenes.

Ming Dao. Let me see. He’s a boy band singer. I don’t want to say too much about his acting. I’ve seen plenty of his works, such as Legend of Star Apple and also Knock Knock Loving You. I’ve noticed, especially in this drama, that he really likes to enunciate his dialogue, which makes it a little awkward when he is saying all his lines. I don’t have too much against him, but I think I prefer him playing the antagonist.

I think the best parts of this drama were the music. I think that most of the songs are actually sung by Zhang Jia Ni, as she did in Dreams Link. She has a beautiful voice and my favorite parts of the drama were watching her sing on stage. When she dresses up she looks amazing and her expressions are to die for.

I may have been a little critical while reviewing this drama since I do have a lot of beef against idol dramas. If you love Ming Dao or Zhang Jia Ni and you want to watch a simple-minded and entertaining drama, don’t be afraid to take a look at this one. It is a bit childish to my opinion, but there are still a few cry cry scenes. The humor is a bit dry as they are cliche, but I guess it still worked on the occasional chance.

Rating:
3.3/5.0

Music Videos

Watch Online (Complete): Click Video to go to Youtube