"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Saturday, July 28, 2018

A Little TLC(w): The Days of Being Dumb (1992)


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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