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Review
by Kozo: |
The best thing about Patrick Kong’s Delete My Love is that it’s not a pretentious “love sucks” opus like the majority of the low-rent auteur’s filmography. The worst thing: It’s still directed by Patrick Kong, meaning stretched out gags, lousy pacing, inconsistent acting and cringeworthy drama. Given its stock high-concept storyline, Kong’s latest is basically a paint-by-numbers Wong Jing comedy with worse direction. Mugging comedymeister Wong Cho-Lam stars as marketing executive So Boring (wordplay on So Bo-Wing, his Chinese name), who receives a mysterious text message that gives him the ability to “delete” the unsatisfactory people from his life if he forwards the text message on. Unfortunately, said delete ability does not allow Wong Cho-Lam to delete his contract for Delete My Love.
So Boring initially disregards the message, but then his life demonstrates just how crappy it can be. His boss (Michael Hui) fires him, his best pal (Alex Fong) betrays him and his family (Yuen Qiu as mom, Jacqueline Chong as sister) attempts to swindle him. Soon, So Boring is deleting people around him as blithely as he would unwanted Facebook friends. The delete option becomes So Boring’s ticket to an enjoyable life filled with more agreeable and attractive people, but there’s a dark side to getting what you want. No, this isn’t a “Monkey’s Paw” type deal where Michael Hui and Alex Fong come back as zombies (though that would be kind of cool), but So Boring starts to regret dumping his old life – you know, just like every other film where someone gets a bunch of instant wishes.
The pivotal “delete people from your life” text message plot device actually goes unexplained – and that’s fine. Like Hollywood, Hong Kong Cinema should be allowed to tell a lazy story as long as a decent product can be wrung from it. Sadly, that doesn’t happen here. The film’s main gags involve the replacement of So Boring’s friends and family with supposedly better versions, e.g., Nancy Sit gets subbed in for Yuen Qiu as his mom, while Eric Kwok (doing his locally-famous Tony Stark impression) replaces Alex Fong as his best friend. However, many of these scenes are drawn out interminably. The film gets even more intolerable during its stretch run, especially when So Boring starts to regret his lack of appreciation for his sweet but preposterously dim girlfriend Bo (Ivana Wong). That subplot ends exactly as you’d expect it would.
Anyone with reasonable expectations from their movies should skip Delete My Love entirely, though in fairness it does suffice as commercial movie fodder for the undemanding. The premise is easily relatable and the smaller jokes are amusing, especially the quick zingers involving wordplay, pop culture references or digs at local entertainment figures and companies – especially the shade thrown at EEG or ATV. Serial overactor Wong Cho-Lam isn’t kept in check by Patrick Kong, but is less annoying than he was in Black Comedy. Also, Michael Hui’s presence is notable because he’s Michael Hui, and Michael Wong (as Hui’s deletion replacement) easily justifies half the ticket price with his entertainingly crappy acting. The numerous cameos and references are diverting for those in-the-know, especially once you realize that the film is nearly a Patrick Kong all-star reunion. No Stephy Tang, though. Pity.
Other notable details for the entertainment circle plugged-in: The film takes the “Alex Fong as Andy Lau” gag to new heights – or perhaps depths – by calling him “Wah Dee” and having him ape Lau’s mannerisms ad nauseum, while Babyjohn Choi makes his first screen appearance since winning the Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Artist. Fans of TVB’s drama Inbound Troubles should dig the many cast connections to Delete My Love, including both Wong Cho-Lam and Ivana Wong. However, Ivana Wong is much less impressive here than in Golden Chickensss, while rising comedienne May Chan is particularly annoying as one of So Boring’s deleted office colleagues. Chan’s performance consists of horrid “cute” affectations that are instantly nauseating – something Patrick Kong could have fixed at any time because, hey, he’s the director! But that’s pretty much the problem with Patrick Kong: He doesn’t seem to understand what makes a good movie.
(Kozo, 5/2014) |
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