In a bid to appease the demand for a “true comedy,” “Successor” has won over audiences with its wit and humor, but falls short in humanizing the hardships faced by children growing up in Chinese households
Perhaps no phrase best summarizes the thematic heart of Successor, the new comedy sweeping China’s box office, than the viral Chinese slang “rejecting fortune in favor of forcing oneself through more hardship (有福不享，没苦硬吃).” Directed by Yan Fei and Peng Anyu (better known as Peng Damo) of Goodbye Mr. Loser (2015) and Hello Mr. Billionaire (2018) fame, the film stars famous comedy duo Shen Teng and Ma Li, this time playing an extravagantly wealthy couple who—after deeming their first son to be inadequate—choose to raise their second child in abject poverty as a means to inculcate in them an innate desire to escape their lot in life via hard graft.
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