# Love in the Buff (春娇与志明)
**Love in the Buff** (春嬌與志明) is a 2012 Hong Kong–China romantic comedy directed and co-written by Pang Ho-cheung, starring Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue as former lovers Cherie Yu and Jimmy Cheung, who break up in Hong Kong, start new relationships in Beijing, and then meet again. It is the second film in the series that began with *Love in a Puff* (志明與春嬌, 2010) and ended with *Love off the Cuff* (春嬌救志明, 2017).[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) • [2](https://news.youth.cn/jsxw/201703/t20170304_9218378.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Pang Ho-cheung (director, co-writer) with Luk Yee Sum; produced by Media Asia[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) |
| Cast | Miriam Yeung (Cherie), Shawn Yue (Jimmy), Xu Zheng (Sam), Mini Yang (You-you)[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) |
| Release | 29 March 2012 (Hong Kong), 30 March 2012 (mainland China); opening film of the 2012 Hong Kong International Film Festival[3](https://www.oaff.jp/2013/english/program/hongkong/07.html) |
| Format | 2012, color, DCP, Cantonese and Mandarin, 111 minutes[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) |
| Box office | About HK$28 million in Hong Kong and over RMB 73 million in mainland China within one month of release[4](https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/retrieve/83855/101301.pdf) |
| Awards | Miriam Yeung won Best Actress at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards; Pang was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/6386345/) |
| Series status | Pang stated in 2017 that the series would have no further sequels[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1894160) |
## Spoilers
### Story
The film picks up after the ending of *Love in a Puff*, in which Jimmy, an advertising executive, and Cherie, a cosmetics salesgirl, had vowed to quit smoking together. Living together, they find their differences wearing the relationship down: Jimmy is an immature workaholic, Cherie loses patience and moves back to her mother, and the affair fizzles out when Jimmy accepts a job offer in China.[7](https://www.screendaily.com/love-in-the-buff/5039383.article)
In Beijing, each starts a new relationship. Jimmy meets the air stewardess You-you (Mini Yang), gentle and attentive, while Cherie meets Sam (Xu Zheng), a mature, steady man who looks after her in daily life.[8](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C%E8%88%87%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/umc.cmc.18ckbbircl62n0mauza5k4325) When the two exes run into each other again in Beijing, the cooled passion reignites; although each is already seeing someone else, they begin an affair and must eventually choose, and they reconcile.[9](https://www.twreporter.org/a/love-off-the-cuff-director-pang-ho-cheung) Pang described the shift from the first film this way: the first film was about how love begins, the sequel about what happens when two people actually live together and problems arise.[10](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1293007.html)
## Production and context
**A first sequel, and a first mainland film.** *Love in the Buff* was the first sequel Pang had made and his first dramatic feature set largely in the mainland; about two-thirds of the film was shot in Beijing.[11](https://news.cntv.cn/20120114/111568.shtml) The title itself delayed the project by a year and a half: Pang refused to call it *Love in a Puff 2*, joking that he was not "2", and only started once he had thought of the reversed title.[12](https://www.yicai.com/news/1552569.html) He had resisted a sequel at first, arguing that a director who makes one film a year should not spend a working year repeating himself, and was persuaded when Shawn Yue asked him whether a director who kept repeating one subject and still pleased audiences would not be impressive.[12](https://www.yicai.com/news/1552569.html) Fan letters after the first film, some addressed to "Cherie" herself and some accusing Pang of stealing the writers' own love stories, also convinced him that the characters belonged to many people and the story should continue.[10](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1293007.html)
**A co-production that worked in both markets.** The first film had been rated Category III in Hong Kong for its [Cantonese profanity](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese-profanity), which limited its audience; the sequel was free of that restriction and was aimed at both student and mainland audiences.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) Mainland-Hong Kong co-productions under CEPA, the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement adopted after SARS battered the Hong Kong economy in 2003, were widely seen as catering to mainland tastes at the cost of Hong Kong character, but *Love in the Buff* succeeded commercially in both markets.[1](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html) The Hong Kong Film Archive's newsletter noted that, where most CEPA co-productions were large costume pictures, this film went the other way, depicting Hong Kong people living on the mainland with many passages nostalgic for Hong Kong culture and daily life.[13](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-03_newsletter/newsletter91_c.pdf) Pang kept some Cantonese profanity in the film, saying that in [Cantonese](https://www.edgepedia.org/cantonese) culture swearing is sometimes not an insult, and that the mainland characters played by [Yang Mi](https://www.edgepedia.org/yang-mi) and Xu Zheng speak without it.[11](https://news.cntv.cn/20120114/111568.shtml)
Pang drew the dialogue and situations from his own life, saying the couple's story reflected his relationship with his wife and anecdotes from friends.[11](https://news.cntv.cn/20120114/111568.shtml) The film's cameos include [Huang Xiaoming](https://www.edgepedia.org/huang-xiaoming), Ekin Cheng and Linda Wong; the running gag of Cherie missing a blind date with Huang Xiaoming was written as a joke before Huang agreed to play himself.[7](https://www.screendaily.com/love-in-the-buff/5039383.article) • [14](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2012/03-15/3747047.shtml)
## Reception
Within a month of release the film had taken about HK$28 million in Hong Kong and more than RMB 73 million on the mainland, making it one of the few co-productions of its period to perform well in both markets.[4](https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/retrieve/83855/101301.pdf) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a worldwide gross of $4,045,381, with $256,451 of that from its North American release through China Lion Film Distribution.[15](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2238839/credits/) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 89% Tomatometer score from nine reviews; the New York Times critic called it as interesting for its glimpse of contemporary urban China as for the charisma of its leads.[16](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_in_the_buff) Douban users rate it 7.3 out of 10 from more than 400,000 ratings.[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/6386345/)
At the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards, Miriam Yeung won Best Actress for playing Cherie, and Pang received nominations for Best Director and, with Luk Yee Sum, Best Screenplay.[5](https://movie.douban.com/subject/6386345/) The film was also nominated for an Asian Film Award at the 25th Tokyo International Film Festival in October 2012.[17](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%98%A5%E5%A8%87%E4%B8%8E%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/10684545)
## Place in the series
The film's success led Pang to join [Huayi Brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/huayi-brothers)' H Plan and plan further mainland-set romance projects.[4](https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/retrieve/83855/101301.pdf) A third film, *Love off the Cuff*, opened the 41st Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2017 and followed the couple into their seventh year together, with Cherie facing doubts about marriage.[2](https://news.youth.cn/jsxw/201703/t20170304_9218378.htm) • [18](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0414/c14677-29211628.html) After that film became Hong Kong's top-grossing Chinese-language film of 2017, Pang announced that the series was finished and he would move to new projects, including his first costume martial-arts film.[6](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1894160) • [19](https://www.hk01.com/article/139199)
## References
1. [Love in the Buff, Hong Kong Film Archive programme note](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/en/web/hkfa/pe-event-2020-7-1-1.html)
2. [《春娇救志明》开幕香港电影节 4月28日内地上映, 中国青年网/时光网](https://news.youth.cn/jsxw/201703/t20170304_9218378.htm)
3. [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2013: Love in the Buff](https://www.oaff.jp/2013/english/program/hongkong/07.html)
4. [國立政治大學新聞學研究所碩士論文 (NCCU thesis on Hong Kong cinema)](https://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/retrieve/83855/101301.pdf)
5. [春娇与志明 (2012), 豆瓣电影](https://movie.douban.com/subject/6386345/)
6. [香港导演彭浩翔：志明春娇系列电影将不再有续集, 澎湃新闻](https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1894160)
7. [Love In The Buff review, Screen](https://www.screendaily.com/love-in-the-buff/5039383.article)
8. [《春嬌與志明》, Apple TV (HK)](https://tv.apple.com/hk/movie/%E6%98%A5%E5%AC%8C%E8%88%87%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/umc.cmc.18ckbbircl62n0mauza5k4325)
9. [生命中重要的小事──專訪《春嬌救志明》導演彭浩翔, 報導者](https://www.twreporter.org/a/love-off-the-cuff-director-pang-ho-cheung)
10. [专访彭浩翔：这个故事是春娇和志明的互相拯救, 界面新闻](https://www.jiemian.com/article/1293007.html)
11. [彭浩翔："春娇与志明"说的是我和老婆的故事, 中国网络电视台](https://news.cntv.cn/20120114/111568.shtml)
12. ["我想表达当代人的爱情观", 第一财经日报](https://www.yicai.com/news/1552569.html)
13. [Hong Kong Film Archive Newsletter 91](https://www.filmarchive.gov.hk/documents/6.-Research-and-Publication/06-03_newsletter/newsletter91_c.pdf)
14. [彭浩翔谈"黄晓明与丑女相亲"桥段:这来自于现实, 中新网](https://www.chinanews.com/yl/2012/03-15/3747047.shtml)
15. [Love in the Buff, Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt2238839/credits/)
16. [Love in the Buff, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/love_in_the_buff)
17. [春娇与志明（2012年彭浩翔执导的喜剧电影）, 百度百科](https://wapbaike.baidu.com/item/%E6%98%A5%E5%A8%87%E4%B8%8E%E5%BF%97%E6%98%8E/10684545)
18. [《春娇救志明》路演 导演彭浩翔:恋爱是缺啥补啥, 人民网](https://media.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0414/c14677-29211628.html)
19. [彭浩翔宣布《春嬌救志明》係2017票房冠軍 自稱不再拍續集, 香港01](https://www.hk01.com/article/139199)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Teen and comedy series film entries › Entries released in the 2010s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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