You need to know: the conspiracy is real. 20 years ago, American film distributors secretly met with the CIA and were told that it was their patriotic duty to convince audiences that China was hell on earth. To that end they agreed to only import Chinese movies about unwashed orphans riding in the backs of rusty trucks through industrial hellscapes populated by unwed mothers sitting in the dirt and crying over their abortions. So when Sophie's Revenge, a slick romantic comedy with Hollywood-caliber production values, comes along our minds short circuit.

Sophie (Zhang Ziyi, Memoris of a Geisha and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is a cartoonist about to marry debonair doctor, Jeff (Korean slice of hotness So Ji-Sub, whose appearance at last year's NYAFF sparked a fangirl riot). But Jeff is a dirty dog who ditches her for ravishing actress, Joanna (Fan Bingbing, Bodyguards and Assassins). For most folks, that's where the healing would begin, but Sophie's mom has already planned her daughter's wedding and she's not going to tolerate any shenanigans: if Sophie isn't marching down the aisle ASAP there will be hell to pay. Driven to desperation, Sophie vows to win Jeff back using nothing but "scientific methods."

It's a kind of Beijing Jones' Diary jazzed up with animated interludes, ridiculous hallucinations, dreams, fantasies, low down slapstick and high brow verbal sparring. This is the first movie produced by Zhang Ziyi, and there aren't many producers who would allow themselves to spend so much screen time throwing up, getting peed on, tumbling down stairs, falling out windows, getting drunk and generally making a complete ass of themselves. It's equally unlikely that another romantic comedy this light, this fizzy and this fast on its feet is going to come along anytime soon, from Hollywood, from China or from anyplace else. So leave your boring old miserablist art films behind and come check out the new face of Chinese cinema.