Combination Platter

The film details the difficulties faced by young undocumented immigrant Robert (Jeffrey Lau), working at a low-paying job at a Szechuan restaurant in Flushing, Flushing, Queens, New York.[5] Robert wants to obtain U.S. citizenship and is told that this is possible if he marries an American woman (which is played by O'Brien).[3][6][7] He initially frets the idea, but decides to Americanize himself in the shortest time possible.[5] The character, in addition, sends money to his parents, along with letters which show a false positivity of his life in America.[2][3] One waiter, Sam (Lester "Chit Man" Chan) receives major debts which causes him to pocketing communal tips.[2] Robert is impressed by a pair of regulars, a young white man, and his Asian- American girlfriend.[2]

His boss (Thomas K. Suing) thinks business is too slow to create tax penalties for sponsoring Robert,[3] and if he were to do so, it would take Robert about five years to get his card. He also wants to bring his parents to America.[3] A classy woman offers from $25, 000 to $50, 000 to marry Robert for convenience.[3] Later, he lets his street-smart friend Andy sets him up with a shy, lonely white woman (Colleen O' Brien).[2][3][7] They're relationship is inconclusive; they have hardly anything in common and not much to say to each other.[2][7] They end up breaking up with her because he admits he is using her.[2] Things get bad at work. Robert affronts Sam about his theft and gets him fired.[2] Later on, the Department of Immigration raids the restaurant, with Robert closely hiding in the walk-in freezer.[2][7] He returns to work with the plight still undecided and watches as the young white man proposes to his girlfriend.[2]

The film was shot at Flushing Meadows Park, Queens and at Rego Park, Queens.[2] Combination platter was shot in 24 days,[2] after hours at the restaurant owned by the parents of the filmmaker Tony Chan. The young Hong Kong born producer spent a year editing the footage in the kitchen of his family's Long Island home and spent a handful of days each restaurant doing restaurant work.[2]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
TV Guide	[2]

Reviews for Combination Platter have been mild. Praise has been given to film's plot. Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times wrote "Chan, whose parents own the actual restaurant in the film, is able to break through the monolithic view whites so often have of Chinese people.[3]" Meanwhile, TV Guide wrote a similar comment,

"Chan's film confronts racial stereotyping by telling the stories of those too often excluded from the table of mass culture.[2]"

TV Guide also wrote, "Combination Platter presents some New York neighborhoods rarely shown in films or on TV and Chan utilizes his limited locations with aplomb."

Praise was especially given to the characters of the film. David Mills of The Washington Post said, "Colleen O'Brien is touching as a shy white woman who goes out with Robert, unaware of his need for a marriage of convenience.[7]" He also commented, "Chan surrounds Robert with an interesting mix of characters... street-smart buddy Andy, who is helping him find a wife, seems especially hip when he's speaking in New Yawk-inflected English. Lester "Chit-Man" Chan brings scowling authenticity to the part of Sam, the grumpy waiter who likes to insult his American customers in Chinese, right in front of their faces." TV Guide also wrote positively of Sam, "Lester "Chit Man" Chan's foul-tempered Sam is much more fun.[2]

In addition, the film was exalted for its reflection of conflicts of the community. TV Guide wrote,

"The restaurant reflects the conflicts of the community: white vs. Asian; "ABC"s vs. immigrants; Hong Kong vs. Taiwan; and Mandarin-speaking vs. Cantonese-speaking.[2]"

David Mills of The Washington Post wrote, "The multilingual dialogue in Combination Platter (with occasional English subtitles)... examines ... cultural conflicts among the Chinese—between immigrants and "ABCs" (American-born Chinese), between those who speak Cantonese and those who speak Mandarin.[7]" Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times wrote, "within the restaurant's staff there is a language barrier[3] between those Chinese who speak only Cantonese and those who speak only Mandarin. Then there's the owner's... American-born niece Jennie (Ellen Synn), the restaurant's cashier, who knows neither dialect--and eats Chinese food with a fork instead of chopsticks." In addition, he wrote of the conflict, "Jennie's unfamiliarity with her ancestral language puts her in a situation[3] similar to that of the restaurant's only white employee (Colin Mitchell), who's razzed by his friends for working in a Chinese restaurant in the first place."

• Honorable mention – Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Sentinel[8]

The film is shot in the restaurant Szechuan Inn, which is owned by Chan's parents.[2][3][7]

• Combination Platter at IMDb