Another
kind of frenetic late ‘80s/early ‘90s Hong Kong comedy for Tony Leung
Chiu-wai. It reminds me a fair amount of
The Royal Scoundrel, although a
little less zany and with more farcical elements. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it
good, but it was a decent, relatively inoffensive way to spend an
hour-and-a-half.
Ma and
Kang are brothers (stepbrothers? Half
brothers? I didn’t quite keep track, but
there’s something going on there) whose careers at their parents’ loan company
hang in the balance as their parents go through a contentious divorce. When their dad gets the idea that management
of the company will be given to the brother who can woo Mina, the daughter of a
wealthy tycoon, the race is on. Mercenary
Ma is all too pleased with the arrangement, but the awkward yet good-hearted
Kang needs a little help in the romance department. He tags in his friend Wei to help, but
matters get more complicated when Wei realizes he’s falling for Mina.
The plot
is somehow meandering and busy at the same time. The film gets off to a pretty slow start – it
feels like it takes a long time to learn what the central conflict actually is
– but once it gets going, there are a few too many wheels turning at once for
me to keep track of them. The humor is
broad and gets too wacky at times for my tastes, but overall, I think it’s
more “meh” than bad. The characters are
mostly fun, and there are some good interactions amid the frenzy.
Most of
my favorite moments are supplied by Leung’s Wei, a quick-talking orphan who
makes up in charisma what he lacks in prospects. He works at the loan company with Kang as a
semi-competent repo guy, but his real passion is for concocting hustles. A charming schemer, he puts me in the mind of
a grownup Artful Dodger. I love the
scenes of him slipping effortlessly into some lie or another, coming up with a
harebrained idea to either earn himself some money or get him and his friends
out of a jam. But while he’s pretty
good, he’s no mastermind, and it takes him a lot longer than necessary to
realize won’t win Mina by playing games.
I really
like that Wei is so caring. For a smooth
talker who’s a little full of himself and isn’t overburdened with scruples, a
lot of what he does is to help others.
He, Kang, and his adopted/foster(?) sister Jackie have a racket going to
lose at mahjong to Wei and Jackie’s godmother, because he knows she’ll only
accept money from him if she wins it in the game. He’s very protective of Jackie, and he throws
himself wholeheartedly in the plan to woo Mina on Kang’s behalf even though he
likes Mina himself, proving more than willing to take a hit and look ridiculous
for a sake of his friend. It’s here,
both in Wei’s sly cleverness and his earnest desire to help those he cares
about, that the film gets a slight uptick from a somewhat-forgettable comedy to
something with a bit of brains and heart.
Recommend?
In
General
– Not necessarily. While it’s not bad,
it’s not especially good. If you like
this type of broad humor, it might be good for a few laughs.
Tony
Leung Chiu-wai
– Again, not necessarily. Although this
was made the same year as People’s Hero,
it makes me suspect Leung developed his dramatic chops before his comedic
ones. His performance is enjoyable in a
goofy way, but subtlety, thy name is not Happy-Go-Lucky. I’m guessing that, by the time I make it
through his filmography, I’ll have found a few charming schemer characters who
are more well-performed than Wei.
Warnings
Sexual
references (including prostitution,) language, violence, and some drinking.
