Unexpected Family movie review: Jackie Chan trades kicks for tears in sentimental drama

3/5 stars\nJackie Chan strives to paint himself as a respectable father figure yet again in his new comedy drama Unexpected Family, playing an elderly man struggling with Alzheimer’s disease who mistakes a young loner for his own estranged son.\nShort on action but long on ham-fisted life lessons, the debut feature from writer-director Li Taiyan – credited simply as “Tai” – seems tailor-made for the Chinese holiday season, with its fast-paced blend of slapstick humour, domestic squabbles and climactic melodrama.\nRen Jiqing (Chan) is a former athlete with fading faculties who lives a quiet life in Wuhan, China. He is surrounded by a motley group of sympathetic neighbours, including Aunt Jin (Li Ping), Xiaoyue (Karlina Zhang Jianing) and reformed gangster-turned-mechanic Little Jia (Pan Binlong).\n\n\nWhen scruffy out-of-towner Bufan (Peng Yuchang) appears on Jia’s doorstep looking for a job, he is offered lodgings in Ren’s storeroom, only for the confused senior to mistake him for his own son, Zhuangzhuang.\nZhuangzhuang was a competitive weightlifter who, 30 years earlier, failed to secure a world championship. It is an episode that still haunts Ren’s fragmented memory.\nOverjoyed that his “son” has apparently returned after more than a decade away, Ren takes Bufan in. When Bufan discovers there is an inheritance waiting for him, the neighbours agree to play along with the ruse.\nIn the film’s first half, Ren’s condition is treated as little more than bumbling forgetfulness and used as a catalyst for a string of comedic high jinks.\n\nLater on, Tai and his cast appear to have been reminded that Alzheimer’s is no laughing matter, and as Ren’s health worsens, the film takes a dramatic – if not unforeseen – turn towards the tragic.\nTo his credit, Chan is surprisingly convincing as Ren – despite the script offering little understanding of how to actually care for someone with Alzheimer’s and the actor being hampered by some distracting de-ageing make-up during numerous flashbacks.\nThe seasoned action star steps up admirably, bringing genuine emotion to a climax that forces the father to reconsider how he handled the public disgrace of his famous son.\nThe themes in Unexpected Family might be delivered with all the subtlety of a 200lb barbell, but they are well intentioned and hard to contest. Families need not be bonded by blood, but are indispensable support structures to be nurtured rather than exploited.\n\nIf Chan’s cinematic output over the last decade is any indication, he is eager to demonstrate that he has finally got the message. Based on his performance in Unexpected Family, this reviewer is inclined to agree with him.\nWant more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook\n