Reaching For the Stars (2004) stars S.H.E members Selina, Hebe, and Ella. The story revolves around three friends who share the same birth date and experience an eventful moment in their lives where their destinies seem to be intertwined.
Ella Chen plays the part of Ren Jie, a hardworking girl of lower-class status who struggles to pay her ailing brother's hospital bills. She works at a pizza place by day, and sells handmade jewellery by night. Her young brother's health is not optimistic and her rent has gone unpaid for months. Finally, when her landlord can no longer stand it, Ren Jie is kicked out of her tiny apartment and is forced to take refuge in the garage where she works at.
Selina Ren is Lei Lei, the spoiled rich daughter of a high-class family. She fails in carrying an independent spirit and is easily swayed by her mother's harsh teachings. Hoping to reap the benefits of an obedient daughter, Lei Lei's mother constantly nudges her in the direction of her "friend"'s son, in an attempt to join the two wealthy families together. Lei Lei's innocence is most obvious when she's around her father who dotes on her endlessly. However on her birthday, her father suffers a heart attack and dies. Feeling alone and depressed, she seeks consolation from her crush, Zheng Hao.
Hebe Tian plays Xiao Rou, a feisty cop who hates it when guilty criminals are freed. She soon loses her job because of her hardheadedness. Her longtime boyfriend Chen Kai proposes to her and suggest they move into a modest house together, but she refuses. Unable to let go of responsibilty of her grandmother, Xiao Rou insists that Chen Kai wait ten years for her, when her responsibilities can be more balanced. Unfortunately, Chan Kai, in a drunken state, falls prey to a girl from a bar and is seen kissing her by Xiao Rou. She then breaks things off with him.
Reaching for the Stars is what people would call an idol drama, a drama starring famous faces to increase publicity and ratings, even if their acting is not up to par. The Best Acting Award goes automatically to Ella. Her acting may not exactly be perfect, but her skills are far better than that of Hebe or Selina. Her crying scenes are believable and evoke strong sympathy from the audience. Some of her expressions may be over exaggerated, but her overall performance is excellent. I found Selina a bit shrieky during her scenes where she vents out her anger to Ella. Her voice has an extremely sweet and high quality, which may be perfect for her singing career, but make her a bit hard on the ears when you listen to her attempts to warp her voice to fit her character's emotions. Hebe is the most emotionless in her performance. Even though her character did not experience major drama, her expressions and voice were lacking in emotion. The scenes where she had to evoke the most emotion (i.e. when Chen Kai died) were simply forced. The male side of the cast needs no reviewing because their performances were in sync with Selina and Hebe's: simply inexperienced.Rating: **.5/*****
