Marry My Dead Body Review: LGBTQ+ Supernatural Comedy Makes for an Entertaining One-Time Watch

Marry My Dead Body Review: (關於我和鬼變成家人的那件事 or Guan yu wo han gui bian cheng jia ren de na jian shi) The goofy Taiwanese supernatural comedy mystery film has been directed by Cheng Wei-hao, who’s also written it alongside Sharon Wu. Starring Greg Hsu as Wu Ming-han, Austin Lin as Mao Pang-yu and Gingle Wang as Lin Tzu-ching in the leading roles, the movie originally premiered at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival in 2022.

It finally released theatrically in Taiwan in February 2023, then received its OTT premiere on Netflix on August 10, 2023. With a runtime of 2 hours 9 minutes, the Taiwanese Mandarin language title is now streaming on the platform with English subtitles and dubbed audio.

Marry My Dead Body Netflix Film Review Does Not Contain Spoilers

Marry My Dead Body Review: Discussion

Ming-han (Greg Hsu) is a homophobic police detective who accidentally chances upon a red envelope that ties his fate up with the ghost of the recently deceased Mao Mao (Austin Lin). Being betrothed to him through the ancient ritual of a ghost marriage, the straight detective tries his all to get out of this matrimonial union with the gay ghost, but as per the custom, averting this union brings him heavy misfortune, leaving him no other resort but to acquiesce.

This bad luck in turn gets him demoted to the post of a patrolman, taking him off the drug bust case he’d initially been involved in with his partner Tzu-ching (Wang). What he doesn’t know yet is that the same issue is interlinked to Mao Mao’s hit-and-run case. In a twist of fate, the cop gradually comes to accept the situation at hand and gets on board to solve his new dead husband’s murder mystery, further cueing in a lot of emotional and character development in the process.

The attractive close-knit cast panel of the movie is clearly a big winner that will appeal to you as a viewer. Despite Hsu’s character being an ignorant homophobe, the film’s concise script gets him to change into an accepting and loving individual over the course of this journey. The writing presents these characters as goofy likeable individuals, which when put together with the genre-blended mix, reel out an entertaining package that will keep you invested in the movie.

Its overall concept is bound to remind you of the 1990 Hollywood film Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore as the leading couple, which also bridged the gap between a supernatural fantasy and drama. Although that film was particularly more swayed by its hetero-romantic track, Marry My Dead Body turns out to be a more accepting and inclusive LGBTQ spin on it, while also steering away from romance per se. Without introducing us to a common love story, the film remains genuinely well-intentioned in bringing forth queer representation.

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But it’s not to say that it doesn’t have any issues. Its very representation of the gay community comes up as stereotypical, but regardless of that you don’t necessarily hate the film due to its emotional core portrayed through the out-of-the-box relationship between Hsu and Lin’s characters. Moreover, it also attempts to bridge the gap between the traditional outlook with contemporary modernity through not only offering the characters unaccepting of queer love with a positive development and growth, but also via the talks of ghost marriage customs being mingled with these same LGBTQ+ themes. However, the movie doesn’t probe into the supposed problematic aspects of the chilling Chinese tradition either.

Keeping a rather neutral tone while unravelling these certain issues, the film emerges more as a mildly comical buddy cop centred around action and supernatural themes of reincarnation. Its cinematography is clear and appropriate for the storyline so introduced, which further conveys the warm affections the writers hope to convey in this non-preachy conversation about inclusivity, with the focus largely being on entertaining the audience.

Final Thoughts

Bollywood masala (a blend of all sorts of genres – melodrama, drama, action, comedy, etc) movie lovers would especially enjoy watching this film even though it proceeds to walk on a predictable path that you’ve most likely seen before in other such films. Nevertheless it’s enjoyable, especially due to Greg and Austin’s chaotically loveable dynamic. In the long run, it may not necessarily be remembered by the viewers, but that still doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a simple enjoyable one-time watch, which is exactly what we need on some days to lift our spirits up.

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