Romancing Star
Sweary Fat: Chow Yun-Fat
Ting Man Yuk: Maggie Cheung
"Little Brother Mark": Eric Tsang
directed by: Wong Jing
IMDb link: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0093056
other links:
Version reviewed: LD
Ratings:
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
LD Audio: 6 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
LD Video: 4 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Subtitles: 2 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Story: 4 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
Performances: 4 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;
CYF: 4 of 10
Heaven help me, I actually liked this movie - in spite of Eric Tsang.
If you think of this as "Live From Hong Kong - It's Saturday
Night!" instead of a real movie you're much better off.
As a movie it's fairly dumb, as you would expect
an Eric Tsang/Wong Jing comedy to be, but as a series of skits it's actually quite funny. The
endless ribbing of Chow Yun-Fat's roles in previous movies is amusing on a couple
of levels, mainly because he seems to go along with the silliness with such a display
of good humor. The spoofs of television shows and commercials and even radio call-in
Agony Aunts are some of the best moments of the film; outside of that it's pleasant to see
Chow Yun-Fat and Maggie Cheung doing a little bit of gentle romantic comedy. If this
sounds like a cross between Cinderella and Kentucky Fried Movie, well, that might
not be so far off the mark.
Speaking of "mark", or rather "Mark", Eric Tsang's parody of A Better Tomorrow
is really hilarious. Right down to Tsang stepping into John Woo's egotistical shoes
for a moment (in the "blood-spattered hallway" scene) he is spot-on in his poking of
the classic. Brother Ho - whom we never see except from the back - has one of the best
lines in the film: "Guns in potted plants? Why would he put them there?"
The mime sequence that CYF does (the one where he drops a perfect little curtsey) is
a take-off on The Last Affair that really made me snigger.
Though his face isn't shown, I really suspect that is CYF as the confused Mark Gor in
the ABT restaurant scene spoof. If it is, then kudos to CYF for not only having
a sense of humor about the movie that made him a superstar, but about himself as well.
This is a good one to watch at a party if you have other HK film addict friends. You don't
need to pay much attention to it, you get to see Maggie Cheung in a bathing suit, CYF has
some really great moments hamming it up and there's nothing here that requires more than
two brain cells to rub together. A harmless way to spend a couple of hours before you
break out your copy of A Better Tomorrow and see The Coolest Actor In The World
earn that title.
go to the image gallery for this film
nbsp;
go to film review index
nbsp;
return to top page
email the page maintainer