A mix of offbeat comedy, thriller, and hetero-gay bromance, Marry My Dead Body is a funny cocktail, as likeable as it is effective, from Taiwan.
Ming-Han (Greg Han Hsu) is a handsome, hotheaded cop trying to climb the ranks and always craving action. Definitely over-motivated, he nevertheless has some serious flaws that could harm his career. Sometimes too violent, slightly homophobic at times, he’s not far from being permanently sidelined.
Refusing to be sidelined, he rushes to the side of his crush, Lin Tzu-Ching (Gingle Wang), when the opportunity arises to pursue dangerous drug dealers. While conducting a search in a park, he comes across a red envelope. A group of elderly women jump on him, telling him that fate has led him to take this envelope and that now he will have to agree to a “ghost marriage.” According to them, Ming-Han must marry Mao, a young gay man who died after being hit by a hit-and-run driver! This would be the way to fulfill one of the deceased’s last wishes (who dreamed of getting married despite his father’s fierce opposition) and to help soothe his soul. Being not very gay-friendly, Ming-Han categorically refuses… but the old ladies warn him that fate has truly chosen him to be the husband and that if he doesn’t comply, great misfortunes will befall him. He doesn’t take them seriously.
In the days following this event, Ming-Han is forced to realize that the old women had not lied: he is seriously injured and his daily life becomes unbearable. Fearing that his entire existence will turn into a permanent curse, he ends up agreeing to marry Mao’s ghost in an improbable ceremony. He hopes to then be rid of all this, but then Mao’s ghost materializes before him!
Aware that Ming-Han is not an ally, Mao will have fun teasing him to open his mind a little. Above all, he assures him that if he helps him fulfill his last wishes (and in particular to find the driver who killed him before fleeing), he will leave him alone and, even better, help him advance within the Police. The unlikely couple therefore team up and embark on a crazy investigation…
This film can’t be faulted for lacking originality! Marry My Dead Body joyfully mocks the clichés and preconceptions surrounding a hetero-gay duo that’s as unexpected, amusing, and ultimately very endearing. Two completely opposite and initially fiercely opposed people team up to solve a hit-and-run while simultaneously dismantling a drug-dealing network.
Ignoring good taste and realism, preferring fantasy, the feature film is not afraid to go all out with kitsch, very offbeat and schoolboy humor. And in the background we follow the evolution of Ming-Han, a closed-minded guy who will gradually broaden his horizons and open his heart by discovering the story and personality of Mao, a gay man who had to fight all his young life to simply be happy and love who he wants.
The mixture of many genres could have been indigestible but the result is a nice little success, entertaining, funny and touching, managing to keep you on the edge of your seat and to tackle subjects that are deeper than they seem (the loss of a child, homophobia, machismo within the Police…). The whole cast is brimming with energy and the project is so crazy that it is difficult to predict and therefore regularly surprising and enjoyable. A bromance from which we come out surprisingly moved.
