Film Name: 脫韁者也 / One Wacky Summer
Last night I went out of my way to catch “One Wacky Summer” at a distant theater. No choice—though it premiered just last weekend, its box office, reviews, and screenings are all dismal right now. If I didn’t hurry, I’d miss it…
After watching it, I have to admit this film doesn’t stand out in Cao Baoping’s (renowned) body of work. What stuck with me most was its odd, mismatched flavor—trying to be everything at once. While I wasn’t expecting another “The Dead End,” I was at least hoping for a darkly humorous crime comedy like ” Cock and Bull”—a darkly humorous crime comedy. Only after it ended did I realize: this is still the same narrative as “Einstein & Einstein” and “Across the Furious Sea,” critiquing patriarchy and reflecting on parent-child relationships?
Theoretically, a film tackling so many themes should be solid no matter what. But One Wacky Summer clearly hasn’t reached that level yet—it’s more of a half-baked, awkward mess that never quite hits its stride.
First off, its “dark humor” falls flat. The darkness is there (and plenty of it), and the humor too (largely thanks to Tianjin’s unique charm and its dialect), but when combined, it’s underwhelming.
Many viewers will immediately compare it to “Cock and Bull,” which is where “One Wacky Summer” loses major points. “Cock and Bull” is a crime comedy infused with absurdity, featuring endearing characters like the “Five-Star Killer” who liven things up. Audiences get a satisfying thrill from the mix of the unexpected and the laughable.
“One Wacky Summer,” however, achieves little in this regard. Take Xiao Liu, played by Ben Yu, for instance. From his first appearance, it’s clear he’s destined for trouble. Inserting such a ruthless, reckless character into a kidnapping plot that borders on farce is a blatant attempt to create a villainous mastermind.
On a broader level, the premise of “an uncle kidnapping his nephew for family money” mostly revolves around family drama. Beyond a gang of debt-collecting thugs, there are few additional threats or plot twists. From a crime story perspective, it lacks narrative depth.
Then it dawned on me: “One Wacky Summer” is actually cut from the same cloth as “Einstein & Einstein” and “Across the Furious Sea”—it’s still about those “father and child” dynamics.
But compared to the high polish of those two films, “One Wacky Summer” feels heavy on criticism and light on reflection.
Let’s break it down: the film features several terrible fathers. Ma Fei’s father never appears on screen, yet his lack of trust in his child sets off the entire chain of tragic events. Chang Yuan’s character, the second sister’s husband, is pretentious, hypocritical, sleazy, insatiably greedy, and constantly makes things worse. Xiao Liu’s father perpetrates relentless domestic violence, driving his wife to suicide and destroying his child (even the first sister’s husband, a real piece of work, pales in comparison)…
The tragic souls shaped by these terrible fathers are even more numerous—the second sister Ma Hui and the eldest sister are both emotionally damaged women; Xiao Liu becomes a fugitive rejected by society; that “Pizi” Li Jiawen retains any innocence at all is nothing short of a miracle; and don’t even get started on the protagonist Ma Fei—not only is he a terrible son, but if Mengmeng had given birth to the child, he’d likely become a terrible father too.
Setting aside its crime film credentials, when purely examining its exploration of “patriarchal toxicity,” One Wacky Summer’s flaw lies in sacrificing character depth and narrative integrity for the sake of symbolic oversimplification and scathing criticism.
Audiences witness only a group of scoundrels and wretched souls flailing desperately, yet rarely glimpse the pitiable aspects of these despicable characters. Consequently, deeper empathy and reflection become elusive.
For me, “One Wacky Summer” delivers a mouthful of bitterness without the lingering sweetness that absurdity or reflection might offer. As for the ending—it’s not exactly a satisfying wrap-up, but rather a scattering of sugar sprinkles at best.
To be fair, casting Guo Qilin in this film critiquing patriarchy was spot-on. When reality meets the screen—considering Guo Lao’s “mentoring” and Guo Xiao’s growth over the years—the entertainment value might just double instantly.
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