A film made during Anita Yuen's peak years, Tragic Commitment (1995) is a somewhat tiresome drama that gives Anita few opportunities to be charming and winsome. Kozo has an old review here and his disappointment is echoed by me.
Let's be honest here: Anita Yuen is better suited to comedy or romance than this sort of hackneyed nonsense. She plays a gynecologist whose husband (Julian Cheung) dies leaving her to face her mother-in-law (Deannie Yip) who is a bit obsessive about having a grandchild.
If you've ever wanted to see a film where Anita Yuen goes to the toilet and then argues with two old ladies about the pregnancy test results of her pee, then this film is for you. Otherwise, Tragic Commitment is largely a collection of unintentional laughs waiting to happen.
So Anita looks up her dead husband's mistress, Blackie (Josie Ho), and finds the girl pregnant. Blackie and her tacky friend show up at the home of Anita's mother-in-law and then there's a big scene.
Maybe it's because I'm a guy, but none of this seemed very believable to me. Why wasn't Anita more ashamed of her husband's indiscretions? Why was she so beholden to the mother-in-law's wishes even after her husband has died? It's just a contrived bit of business like a Lifetime network TV-movie.
The only possible selling point for this film for a prospective DVD buyer is the fact that Josie Ho looks quite beautiful. Yeah, she's overacting but so is everyone in this flick and the material almost demands it.
You can order Tragic Commitment on DVD here.