This
would’ve been quite the decent enough little comedy, were it not for some of
the more unfortunate humor. I don’t know
what it is with the rape jokes in some of these movies – in this case, rape
jokes with a homophobic twist – but I’m continually disappointed by it. While I recognize that plenty of U.S.
entertainment contains these unpleasant elements, especially in films like this
that are over 20 years old, I also think it feels more pronounced here in part
due to the translation; I’m not sure if the characters are really being as
blunt as the subtitles suggest, or if it’s the Cantonese-to-English translation
spelling it out more plainly. But either
way, overt or subtle, I don’t like it (a few spoilers.)
Fred and
Keith are two aspiring gangsters who’ve joined numerous triad gangs, despite
their overall uselessness in a fight.
However, after several of their bosses meet particularly grisly ends
with the presence of these two as the only common denominator, they gain a
reputation for being jinxes and are blacklisted from the gangster community at large. The guys attempt to strike out on their own,
getting into the smuggling business, but that goes wrong at the first
turn. Hijinks, thwarted attempts at
criminal activity, and threats of bodily harm ensue.
We’ll
start with the bad stuff. That “smuggling”
job Fred and Keith take on is to bring in a prostitute from Singapore, one who
turns out to be an unsuspecting young woman who thinks she’s there to
model. Yep, our hapless young criminals
are accidental sex traffickers. Luckily,
they realize it would be in bad form to then hand this woman over to a pimp,
but this plot doesn’t exactly turn itself around once they decide to protect
her. Both have feelings for her – Keith
unabashedly, Fred trying to play it more coolly – but it turns out she’s gay…
or is she? Cue groans and all sorts of
reductive noise about female sexuality, not to mention a climactic scene in
which one of our antiheroes swoops into her room and passionately(?) declares
that he needs to rape her. Oh, and
there’s a suggestion, from her no less, that she isn’t a “real woman” unless
she’s straight. I know this was made in
1992, but holy crap.
Which is
a shame, because if you cut out all that grossness, you’d be left with a fairly
enjoyable comedy. It’s a good gangster
satire with lots of send-ups and zany humor, and Fred and Keith make a fun
disaster-prone team. I like Fred’s
various schemes to keep them out of trouble (an early scene in which they fake
their way through a huge gang-on-gang fight with minimal risk is a highlight,)
and there’s something nice about the way they stick by each other despite their
pretty constant screw-ups.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai plays Fred, who by this point, I can recognize as a pretty
familiar type for him during this part of his career. Low-level shyster with smart enough schemes
that, as often as not, fumble in the execution?
Check. Good looks and plenty of
charm, but an even bigger ego?
Check. Makes a lot of noise about
having no scruples but generally does the right-ish thing when the chips are
really down? Check.
But even
if I’ve seen it before, there’s a reason he’s played a lot of these characters,
something I would’ve never guessed back when I knew him best for his quiet,
soulful characters in films like In the Mood for Love and Hero. He has a strong knack for these fast-talking
types who always have something up their sleeve, and when he’s not unwittingly
trafficking humans or asking why a woman is a lesbian when she otherwise seems
so “normal” (sigh,) Fred is a good deal of fun, especially when playing off of
Jacky Cheung’s sweet, dumb Keith. You
can tell Fred prides himself on being the brains of the two-man operation, and
he keeps Keith around both out of genuine if usually-unspoken affection and out
of the fact that he knows Keith will always appreciate his (dubious) talents,
even if others don’t.
Recommend?
In
General
– If it weren’t for the gross stuff, I probably would. But as it is, no.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– Not with all that baggage. For less
uncomfortable performances of this sort of character, check out Happy-Go-Lucky or Heaven Can’t Wait.
Warnings
Violence
(including attempted rape,) sexual content (including sex trafficking,)
drinking/smoking/drug use, and sexist/homophobic humor.
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