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Second Time Around

Play trailer Second Time Around Released Jan 11, 2002 1h 39m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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31% Tomatometer 26 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
After stealing $1 million from a casino, a lowly gambler (Ekin Cheng) accidentally travels back in time.

Critics Reviews

View All (26) Critics Reviews
Kimberley Jones Austin Chronicle Rated: 2/5 Mar 10, 2003 Full Review Charles Ealy Dallas Morning News Tell yourself it's OK to be jealous. Go ahead and mock poor Alberto. Rated: B- Apr 11, 2002 Full Review Moira MacDonald Seattle Times [Javier Bardem is] one of the few reasons to watch the film, which director Gerardo Vera has drenched in swoony music and fever-pitched melodrama. Rated: 2/4 Mar 1, 2002 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 2/5 Aug 1, 2005 Full Review Reel.com Rated: 2.5/4 Oct 15, 2002 Full Review Kurt Dahlke Apollo Guide Rated: 27/100 Oct 15, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (8) audience reviews
Audience Member Almost shockingly zane-free Jeff Lau epic featuring charming leads Ekin Cheng and Cecilia Cheung with California as a calculatedly exotic, but essentially unneccessary, geographical backdrop. The time-travel themed screenplay seemingly begs to be mistreaded and abused in the usual Lau fashion by insertion of endless parodies and incomprehensible spontaneous comedy, but Lau keeps things cool, sticking to the weird but strangely consequent elliptical narrative and focusing on the star quality of the actors and the romantic potential of Cheng's and Cheung's odd couple. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member I love this kind of story~ Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member A romantic time travel movie that gets a little messy and cheap at times. Ekin plays the title role as a gambler who loses it all but thanks to some mysterious stones gets sent back in time. Once he realizes he is back to 2 days ago before the big Vegas trip he can try to fix everything including returning the money, saving his best friend's life, revenge on the ex-gf, and falling in love with Cheung. The film doesn't dwell too much into the time travel aspect, it's just a plot device to advance the story and draw the characters together, so I wouldn't call this a "sci-fi fantasy" really like the summary above. Not too bad as Ekin plays the typical loner anti-hero but the falling for Cheung comes slowly and in a well thought out manner. A dabbling of gambling action which comes at the end makes for a nice culmination of the movie. Nothing special but okay to pass the time. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting parallel universe concept for the plot. However, the acting was so-so & the special effects were a little cartoon-ish.. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review steven g This is a strange mix of genres that you do sometimes see a lot of in Hong Kong films. It's partly a romantic comedy, but also more serious than that as well. The end and beginning are fairly serious, the middle is extremely funny in spots, almost slapstick. This movie is entertaining enough to keep your interest with a nice mix of action, drama, romance, and a bit of science fiction. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The plot concept derives from Back to the Future. Average acting except with the good supporting act by Jonathan that makes the film more lively and funny. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Second Time Around

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis After stealing $1 million from a casino, a lowly gambler (Ekin Cheng) accidentally travels back in time.
Director
Jeffrey Lau
Producer
Johnnie To
Distributor
Mei Ah Entertainment
Production Co
China Star Entertainment, One Hundred Years of Film Co. Ltd., Milky Way Image
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
Chinese
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 11, 2002, Wide
Runtime
1h 39m
Sound Mix
Surround