Plot: Jill (Karena) is Chi On’s other girlfriend who believes soon she can be his true girlfriend. Jack thinks Grace is his future but Grace has the other boyfriend who she’s seen for seven years. When Jill finds out Jack is encountering the same relationship problem as hers, they becomes friends and encourage each other to fight for their loves.

Review: With a romantic comedy the important thing is not where the story is heading, but rather how it gets there. IT HAD TO BE YOU is an average romantic comedy that has all the right ingredients doesn’t succeed in mixing them together very well. The story follows the exact formula the audience would expect it to. Jack and Jill are completely unaware that they are obviously made for each other. People around them can see it but not them. Just like she says, “she has eyes but can’t see.” That is the first key ingredient and it starts out promising. But the rest of the ingredients are just not there. If the are there, they are totally over cooked. The film is mostly recycled elements that are glossed over with candy coating to disguise them. Jack and Jill get closer in a somewhat realistic way but the elements thrown in by the filmmakers to make it unique make the story oddly confusing and causes audiences to lose track of the main focus. Especially when Jack’s master Jason (Eric Tsang) reveals his big secrets. No matter how good of an actor he is, the plot point remains convincing.

Ekin Cheng provides one of his better performances in recent years. He is a decent a likeable character. He shows a more mature side in this film than in his normal tough cop roles.

There is huge positive in the film. Karena Lam. Karena is Karena. She as usual provides good performance. Not to mention she is cute and lovely. It is adorable when she walks an imaginary dog-named Fluffy and talks to him as if he is actually there. She knows how to make her scenes endearing and charming. Watching her adorableness could possibly be enough to make you overlook the film’s unfortunate direction. It was for me.

That being said, IT HAD TO BE YOU contains everything one can expect from a romantic comedy and everything one hopes will NOT be in a romantic comedy. The filmmakers try to direct it in an inevitable way but it feels like they got lost along the way. Despite the film’s flaws, fans of Karena or Ekin will be delighted by the charm they bring to the screen.