This
feels like a fairly typical guy-focused buddy/romantic comedy, but although
most of its beats are pretty obvious and some of the humor gets overly bro-y, I
do enjoy it. The characters, while
familiar archetypes, are entertaining and have good chemistry among one
another.
A trio of
roommates navigate the highs and lows of the dating scene. There’s Tom, a sentimental,
mostly-responsible guy with a long-term girlfriend he may be marrying, more
than any other reason, because it’s less work than not marrying her. Dick is a laidback womanizer who has a
standing arrangement with a sex buddy to be his “midnight call” on any night
when he can’t secure another girl. The
third roommate, alternately called both Hairy and Giorgio, is as over-eager as
he is awkward, desperate for any girl who’s willing to give him a change – if
only he could find one.
It’s a
very trite story and set-up. A shallow
fiancée, an escort with a heart of gold, a hard-up geek, a guy having the hots
for his best friend’s sister – it’s a regular sex-comedy bingo. As usual, I’m annoyed by cheating being sold
as romantic (it’s fine if someone else is the one for you, but not if you keep
stringing along the one you’re with now,) and no one sees anything off about
the great lengths Tom goes to to “protect” his sister from Dick, at odds with
how approving he is of all of Dick’s other conquests.
But
despite the predictability and the annoying/sexist tropes, I enjoy it for what
it is. The three guys may be well-worn
types, but each plays his part well, and their friendship feels authentic. What’s more, even though there’s a fair
amount of sexism in the guys’ attitudes and behavior, most of the main female
characters are given some agency and allowed to be interesting individually and
supportive of one another.
The other Tony Leung, Tony Leung Ka-fai, is
in this movie, playing Dick. He’s the
only other cast member I’m familiar with, but pretty much everybody does a nice
job. I especially enjoy Ann Bridgewater
as Cat and Athena Chu as Tom’s sister Pearl.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai, meanwhile, plays Tom.
Although all three guys are funny, Tom is more of the straight-man role,
the “regular guy” who offsets the comparative broadness of his two friends. Tom is mostly decent and frequently
well-intentioned, but his fatal flaw is a tendency to just go along with
things. Sometimes, this means tacitly
enabling bad behavior, and at others, it means staying in the wrong situation
because he doesn’t want to take the risk he’d require to change his
circumstance.
Certainly,
not the most complex role out there, but I still like it. Tom is sort of a grounding presence at the
center of the film, and even as you urge him to step up, it’s because you want
to see him coming through for himself.
Oh, and in the second half of the movie, a song performed (I’m pretty
sure) by both Tony Leungs serves as the soundtrack for a party scene. I know that Tony Leung Chiu-wai, at different
times, has been a recording artist in Hong Kong, but it’s not too often that I
get the chance to actually hear him sing.
Recommend?
In
General
– I might. It’s not the best, but it’s
an amusing way to spend an hour-and-a-half.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– Maybe. Leung is a big enough star and
has played enough major roles that I can afford to be choosy, but I don’t
always need to be. This is a nice romantic-lead
comedy performance.
Warnings
Sexual
content (including some homophobic humor and a few fantasy scenes of the guys
in bald caps “playing” their own penises,) language, a little violence, and
drinking/smoking.
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