After finding a mysterious red envelope and being compelled by a group of old women into marrying their dead grandson, police detective Wu Ming-Han has to solve a drug case while simultaneously coming to terms with the ghost husband to whom he is now wedded. Maybe the hardest thing to believe about this movie is that it gradually gets weirder from there.
Wu (played by Greg Han Hsu) starts off the film as an arrogant and homophobic cop, chiefly concerned with his own career’s trajectory, and as he is faced with the unbelievable task of marrying a dead man, lest he continue to receive bad luck.
From there, the apparition (played by Po-Hung Lin) reveals himself to be Mao Pang-Yu, the victim of a hit and run that Wu’s precinct failed to properly investigate. Their objectives align as clues start to form, possibly linking the fate of Mao with the drug ring that Wu is attempting to bust in order to further his career.
While the motivations of Wu and Mao aggressively clash in the beginning, they grow fond of each other as the film progresses, and Wu becomes further entangled in the family drama of the deceased Mao’s father and grandmother.
Though the natural discomfort of the self-serious Wu has an inherent emotional wall up from the beginning of the story, the lovable snark and playfulness of the ghost of Mao makes for a perfect foil/dead love interest/crime-solving partner. The eclectic nature of these themes rattle back and forth sporadically as the movie progresses, not lending itself too much to either theme at once.
Normally, this kind of drastic shift in tone between acts, as well as the initial unlikability of Wu’s homophobia would make for a tough watch, “Marry My Dead Body” leans very intently into its own strangeness, actually landing on its feet for the most part.
Though the circumstances and character depictions are thoroughly wild, the emotional stakes of the movie work because each actor is playing 100% into their role. In fact, Mao himself may be the highlight of the whole film.
Hung Lin plays Mao with an honesty and a mischief that endears him to both the audience and to Wu, though the latter does take far longer to take hold. His first appearance is a show stopper, as he animates himself in Wu’s shower on their wedding night and pesters him until Wu comes to terms with his new life.
To evade spoilers, just know that the film does find closure in the film’s relationships, as well as the culprit of the deadly drug ring that starts Wu’s journey.
“Marry My Dead Body” is a quirky, outrageous film that should encourage film lovers of any background to expand their palettes in regard to film taste, language barriers, and aversion to rom-coms.