The bad-date montage — the litany of suitors who speak directly to the camera and reveal in short order their unsuitability as a romantic partner, if not the absurdity of romance itself — has sparked such offbeat comedies as She’s Gotta Have It and Next Stop, Wonderland. Stretched over an entire movie, however, the concept wears thin. Halfway through Taiwanese director Chen Kuo-fu’s The Personals, you have to wonder why Dr. Du Jia-zhen (the elfin Rene Lui), a disgruntled ophthalmologist, persists in searching for a marriage partner via the personal ads. After the foot fetishist, the pimp, the autistic artist accompanied by his mother, the callow yuppie accompanied by his father (and dad’s the one looking for the wife), the ex-con, the salesman (he’s the victim of one of his own personal security devices), and the giggling 17-year-old have made their pitches, the point has been more than made. Chen tries to vary the punishment through jump cuts, overhead camera angles, and a subplot (who is that Dr. Du calls at night to unburden herself of her woes?) that suggest an entirely different movie. Since Du is an eye doctor, it’s the ultimate blind date that sees through her. Unfortunately, the film’s gimmick has been transparent from the start. At the Brattle Theatre this weekend, March 30 and 31.