General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

One and Only

One and Only (Chinese: 热烈, Rè Liè, literally "enthusiastic" or "ardent") is a 2023 Chinese comedy-drama film about street dance, directed by Da Peng (stage name of Dong Chengpeng, 董成鹏) and starring Huang Bo as street dance veteran Ding Lei and Wang Yibo as the young dancer Chen Shuo¹^•². It was made as a theme film for the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, built around breaking, the dance sport making its Asian Games debut that year³.

Key fact	Detail
Original title	热烈 (Rè Liè); also known by the working title 惊叹号 ("Exclamation Mark")⁴
Director and writers	Da Peng (Dong Chengpeng), directing and co-writing with Su Biao¹
Lead cast	Huang Bo as Ding Lei; Wang Yibo as Chen Shuo; supporting roles include Mintao Liu, Yunpeng Yue, and Song Zu'er¹^•⁵
Release	Premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival on June 17, 2023; mainland China release July 28, 2023⁴
Runtime and language	About 124 minutes, in Mandarin⁶
Box office	Exceeded 300 million yuan within three days; total of 913 million yuan (about $126 million in China)³^•⁷^•⁸
Production	Alibaba Pictures, China Film Co., Ltd., Ruyi Entertainment, Shanghai Hanna Pictures, and Shanghai Tacheng Pictures; distributed by CMC Pictures⁹

Spoilers

Plot

Chen Shuo (Wang Yibo) is a young dancer in Hangzhou obsessed with breaking. After his father's terminal illness leaves the family in debt, he works a string of jobs, helping at the family restaurant, running errands, washing cars, and performing at parties and small events, while practicing dance daily¹⁰^•⁴.

Ding Lei (Huang Bo), a street dance veteran, invites Chen Shuo to join his club, the Exclamation Mark (惊叹号) dance crew, but the invitation has a hidden purpose, and Chen Shuo's place in the team becomes precarious when Ding Lei's former star dancer Kevin returns⁵^•¹¹. The story builds toward the National Street Dance Competition, with the coach and dancer facing obstacles that include a wealthy, jealous rival who threatens the team's existence¹⁰^•¹². In the end, Chen Shuo and Ding Lei defeat the rival team led by Kevin and win the national championship¹³.

Origin and production

The film began as a commissioned project: the Hangzhou Asian Games organizing committee invited Da Peng to make a film connected to the Games, with the only requirement that the story be set during the Games preparation period¹³. Da Peng chose street dance because the 2023 Games added new events including breaking, and because the discipline combines entertainment and competition¹³.

Casting came before the script. Da Peng approached Huang Bo and Wang Yibo first, reasoning that knowing the actors' dancing abilities would shape the story; both were drawn to a project that combined their two passions, film and dance¹³. Dance consultant Wang Shengjiong (Danny), founder of the BIS international street dance competition and a WDSF-certified breaking judge, joined the creative discussions with Da Peng and Su Biao around March or April 2021, and location scouting in Hangzhou followed in early 2022¹⁴.

The film was shot in Hangzhou, and netizens called it a "Hangzhou live map for tourist destinations" for its appearances of West Lake, the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, Hangzhou Metro Line 9, and other city landmarks³.

Release and box office

One and Only premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival on June 17, 2023, and opened in mainland Chinese theaters on July 28, 2023⁴. Its box office passed 300 million yuan within three days of release³, and it finished with 913 million yuan in China, a strong commercial result⁷. The Numbers records $126,447,363 from China and $127,129,674 internationally, with smaller releases in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Russia (CIS), and South Korea⁸; IMDb lists a worldwide gross of $128,818,285¹. The film returned to mainland Chinese theaters in a re-release on April 3, 2025⁴.

Reception

Critical response was favorable where it was recorded: Rotten Tomatoes shows a 96% Tomatometer from one review, and critic Carla Hay of Culture Mix called it "one of the best dance films of the year," praising the choreography, cinematography, and acting⁹^•¹². Audience reviews on the site emphasized its warmth and Wang Yibo's performance⁹. The Children & Media Australia review judged that the film breaks no new ground with its story but carries positive messages about self-belief and determination, with dazzling choreography and cinematography¹⁰.

The film also had a civic afterlife: Guangming Cinema, a program producing accessible versions of films for visually impaired audiences, screened a specially adapted version of One and Only at a Beijing community center for attendees including visually impaired viewers¹⁵.

Themes and significance

The film's stated messages are believing in yourself, continuously striving for improvement, and the rewards of kindness, humility, and hard work¹⁰. Da Peng described it not as a "street dance film" but as a story of ordinary people, "small characters" struggling against difficulties, built from the real experiences of dancers¹³.

Because breaking made its debut as a formal Asian Games event in Hangzhou in 2023, the film served as advance publicity for the sport; the Hangzhou 2022 press office noted that audiences were amazed by the breaking competition scenes and that the niche sport would reach more people through the film's popularity³.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2023

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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