Joy To The World

Jen Lung: Chow Yun-Fat
Cheng Tung: Cora Miao

directed by: Gam Yam

IMDb link: none at present (submitted)
other links:
Version reviewed: VCD
Ratings:
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; VCD Audio: 7 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; VCD Video: 6 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Subtitles: 6 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Story: 2 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Performances: 2 of 10
nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; CYF: 2 of 10

Actually, when I rated this story as a "2", I was being generous. You'll see what I mean when I direct your attention to the picture to your left after mentioning this is a story about a fashion designer. That's one of her, um, designs.

Parts of this movie are so muddled that while Pat, a friend of mine, and I were watching it we kept looking at each other and saying, "huh?" It's not the fault of the subtitles, either - those are relatively decent. Maybe this was one of those films which was shot with a minimal script. The first page was an outline of the story and the second and last page was "and some other stuff happens".

After discussing it over a few Brandy Alexanders, Pat and I came to these conclusions:

1. The script stinks. 2. The directing stinks. 3. The acting stinks. 4. It was fun to see CYF in the shower stall.

The movie in which the shower stall scene is embedded goes like this (as far as I can tell): Jen Lung is a young man who is working as a salesperson of patent medicines. Going into a restaurant to sell his cure for constipation to the diners, he happens across two elderly ladies who own a garment factory together but are bitter rivals in everything else. Betting against one another being a favorite hobby of these two matrons, they decide that the current inept manager of their factory should be given the heave-ho in favor of Lung because he 1) looks honest and 2) can't speak English. One bets the other that Lung can turn the factory around even though he is handicapped in his language skills.

Arriving at the office on his first day of work, Lung is mistaken for an errand boy. After being told to swab out the ladies' room, he is then dispatched with a parcel for the manager of the actual factory in another part of town. Here is where he meets Cheng Tung Tung, a young designer (she of the hairy-legged Scotsman drawing). He falls for her on the spot, as often happens in these movies, but doesn't want her to know that he is the manager of the business. Thus begins a confusing and somewhat trite subplot of Lung trying to be two people at once - Tung Tung's working class boyfriend and also the suit-clad business manager.

In addition to the romantic thread of the film there are some bizarre scenes of a 'dirty old man' type who wears mirrors on his shoe tops to spot panties on secretaries, some of the most gawdawful fashions you've ever clapped eyes upon and lots of sexual innuendo (and in one real groaner of a moment, CYF lolling his tongue out while watching chunky middle-aged ladies disrobe as he hides in a bathroom stall). Okay, so this isn't exactly art-house fare, you know? Did I mention the flautulence jokes? Bright red puffs coming out of the seats of trousers? Maybe it's best not to mention those anyway.

Another subplot, which being so silly should either have been used for greater effect or dropped altogether, is a nefarious type of perfume spray which has the added property of making fabric very fragile (think halter tops falling off of buxom women here). You'd think that a plot device like this would be one of the central themes of the movie but it just pops up here and there when a topless shot is needed. Well, not always - there are a few sequences of somewhat homely women going into restrooms and putting on brassieres before a date which were added because... er, give me a few minutes and I'll try to think of a reason.

There are some cute scenes in the film - Lung and Tung Tung romping like children at Ocean Park, Tung-Tung's grandma giving Lung some condoms much to his amusement and Tung Tung's exasperation - and there are some which are just SO bad that you have to wince now and then. Nothing artsy-fartsy like in The Last Affair embarrassing, but just really stupid stuff that makes you glad to be an accountant or a turnip farmer, and not the star of Joy To The World. You have to hand it to CYF - this is a man who has the tenacity of a pit-bull when it comes to his career, it seems, because other actors more faint of heart would have given up in disgust long before the end credits of something like this rolled.

This film has recently (1999) been re-released on VCD by Winners Entertainment. Chinesebooks.net sells it for around US$5.00 - which is about right, I'd say.





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