In the national drama market, urban themes have always been a "fragrant and sweet" general existence.
For example, "Settle Home" in 2020, "Ideal City" in 2021, "The Wind Blows in the Summer" in 2022, etc., almost every year, the urban theme will bring several Wang Bang works to the audience.
However, in recent years, the urban theme has lacked a fresh setting, and the cookie-cutter bloody routines have begun to make the audience gradually feel aesthetic fatigue.
This year's broadcast of "City in the City", "Chenghuan Ji", and "Spring Lover", although they have CCTV support, their results are not ideal, and they are still a lot worse if they want to compare with the classics.
Which work can break the game? Actually, what I'm looking forward to the most is "Old Guy".
"Iron Tooth and Bronze Tooth Ji Xiaolan" Iron Triangle is back again, many national first-class actors are in charge, the actors are all old acquaintances of the audience, and the gold medal screenwriter Zhao Dongling is in charge.
This masterpiece, which has been backlogged for 2 years, has won the first place in the satellite TV ratings since the show was launched, and the popularity can be imagined.
But I thought it was the ceiling of another urban drama, but I didn't expect that there would be continuous bad reviews on the air, and the audience's reasons for the bad reviews were surprisingly consistent, what happened to this drama?
The cliché plot is another chicken feather
"Old Guy" tells the story of Xiao Changqing (played by Zhang Guoli), Sun Qiancheng (played by Wang Gang) and Chen Xincheng (played by Zhang Tielin) after retirement, who founded a retirement community, hoping to let retired old people like them live their own wonderful lives.
It is not difficult to see that this drama is innovative in the storyline, focusing on retired old people, and the three "old guys" starring are still the trio of "Iron Tooth and Copper Tooth Ji Xiaolan", which was popular all over the country that year, obviously planning to sell a wave of feelings.
I believe that many viewers, like me, also went for this wave of "memory killing", but as a result, they were confused by dog blood.
Among them, there are two points that are most unacceptable.
The first point is suffocating family relationships.
It's really unexpected, I originally thought that "Old Guy" could play some new tricks for urban dramas, but I didn't expect it to be the same old way of creating anxiety and family conflicts.
At the beginning of the scene, the plot of the old lady "forcing the palace" son to buy a house for her daughter almost didn't make me vomit out of the overnight meal. The daughter had no money to buy a wedding house for her son and cried in front of the old lady, and the old lady directly waved her hand to let her son pay.
Not to mention that the brother and sister are now at retirement age, and their children can grow up and stand on their own, and they still need money for the family?
And listening to Xiao Changqing's description, since Xiao's father died, this sister's schooling, work, love, and marriage are all handled by Xiao Changqing.
No, others are "Brother Demons" and you are "Sister Demons".
And let's listen to what this old lady said, she feels sorry for her daughter and wants to live with her daughter-in-law, and she is afraid that her mother-in-law and daughter-in-law will quarrel every day, so why doesn't she feel sorry for her eldest grandson and grandchildren living in the same house?
Especially in the back, it is even more annoying, Xiao Changli (played by Hu Xiaoting) took the 200,000 yuan given by her brother and did not buy a house, but was gullible in financial investment, and was deceived without suspense, and the house was not bought without money.
After that, he ran to the old mother and cried, guess what, this old lady just finished talking about Xiao Changqing on the front foot, and asked him to pay another 200,000 yuan on the back foot.
It's just too suffocating, the audience's mammary glands are also mammary glands, can the screenwriter have less of this kind of plot.
And in addition to Xiao Changqing's family environment suffocating the audience, Chen Xincheng's suppressive education and Sun Qiancheng's fatherly love also made people feel extremely uncomfortable.
When will domestic dramas give up this depressive and suffocating portrayal of the original family, so that urban dramas can get rid of this boring parental short plot.
The second point, the fake poor.
The setting of the fake poor in domestic urban dramas is really enough.
Let's talk about Xiao Changlin's family, I said earlier that Xiao Changlin's family has four generations in the same house and lives under one roof, I still think, this is a bit crowded.
As a result, the camera turned, good guy, Xiao Changlin's family lives in a three-story villa, and they are still calling poor? Others have four generations in the same house and fifty square meters, but you are a small third floor in the same house for four generations, and it is too unconvincing to say that you are poor.
To be honest, the drama "Old Guy" really disappointed the audience, thinking that the Iron Triangle reunion was very funny, but it played the debt of the children of the retired elderly, and no family was worried.
And the three of them got together, it was still the old acting, and I felt that it was too dramatic to return to the Qing court drama. Talking about learning to sing is no longer the natural and funny feeling of the past, and a smell of old people overflows the screen, which is really unbearable.
Iron Triangle's unchanged acting skills are too dramatic
If you want to say the most attractive thing about the drama "Old Guy", it is, of course, that the actors of the show are all old acquaintances of the audience, I thought that I could relax by watching the old actors act, but I didn't expect to be slapped in the face.
The first place, Zhang Guoli.
There is no problem with the acting skills of Xiao Changlin played by Zhang Guoli in the play, but the problem is the character design. The eternal good man is set to be sandwiched between two generations of relatives, and this sense of grievance makes Zhang Guoli's performance come back.
However, despite his superb acting skills, when standing with the other two leading actors, it still makes the audience feel "nondescript".
second place, Wang Gang.
It can be seen that Wang Gang is very excited about the return of the Iron Triangle, but Sun Qiancheng played by him has a "Heshen" flavor, and he is even more shrewd and calculating than back then.
And the acting skills of jumping up and down, squeezing eyebrows and making eyes, obviously overly violent performances, and a mouthful of porcelain teeth that blind the audience's eyes, are really a little greasy.
third place, Zhang Tielin.
If you want to say that the actor in "Old Guy" makes the audience feel the most dramatic, it is none other than Zhang Tielin.
After so many years, Zhang Tielin's acting still has a sense of superiority, blowing his beard and staring at him with an expression of "Lao Tzu is the best", and changing the background music can directly pass through the Qing court drama.
The acting skills are superficial, suspended and exaggerated and greasy, compared with others, Zhang Tielin's old man taste is the strongest.
fourth place, Zhou Tao.
The senior host turned to become an actor, this hot spot is not insignificant. As the heroine of "Old Guy", Zhou Tao's performance is also highly anticipated by the audience, but her performance obviously disappointed the audience.
Xia Mingzhou, played by Zhou Tao in the play, is an independent woman with a successful career, but Zhou Tao seems a little deliberate when interpreting the characters, and cannot truly show the inner changes of the characters.
Especially when playing against Wang Gang, her emotions are obviously not explosive, when she expresses anger, her eyes narrow, and the corners of her mouth are hooked, which makes the character even more thin and powerless, making the audience unbearable.
It can only be said that interlacing is like a mountain, when the host crosses over to eat the actor's meal, he still has to weigh his own strength, think about whether this bowl of rice has to be eaten, but don't let yourself lose the passer-by plate in order to make rice.
epilogue
After chasing 6 episodes of "Old Guy", I just want to say that the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment.
I thought that the return of the Iron Triangle was a ruthless one, but I didn't expect it to be bigger.
The story is full of calculations from beginning to end, calculations between family members in the family, and calculations between friends outside. And the plot is quite boring, relying on the feelings of the year to catch up with the plot, in exchange for being so angry that I can't sleep in the middle of the night.
I beg all the screenwriters and directors to open your eyes and see the lives of ordinary people.
At the very least, it is not difficult to give the characters in film and television dramas a normal thinking.
Some viewers may say that art comes from life, and what film and television dramas show is less than half of what is shown in real life.
But this kind of plot, well-written, naturally gives the audience a sense of substitution, such as "The World", although it is a period drama, the plot is in-depth, has connotation and depth, and the plot is not suspended.
On the other hand, "Old Guy", the plot is suspended and boring, the characters are not pleasing, and the acting skills of Qing court dramas make the audience frequently play, which is really not an urban masterpiece.
However, "Old Guy" has only been updated for 6 episodes, maybe the plot will improve later, I don't know if you still want to continue chasing dramas?