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Review
by Kozo: |
Cheap quickie from the master of cheap quickies, Wong
Jing. Anita Yuen stars as Ping, an average Hong Kong
girl who loves movies so much that she watches them
incessantly. She even watched eight one evening all
via fast-forward. How? They were all directed by Wong
Jing.
Though Ping is unpopular, she
does have fine lineage. Her father (Wu Fung) has many
wives, and one of them gave birth to beautiful, popular
Pearl (Christy Chung). Ping idolizes her half-sister,
and is delighted to be working for her at an ad agency,
despite being paired with porn-loving scumbag Yam Kim-Fai
(Jordan Chan).
While looking for props for
a commercial, Ping finds three pearls which, when rubbed,
produce Bo, a damn good-looking genie (Michael Wong)
who proffers three wishes. In typical Anita Yuen fashion,
she makes Bo go for Pearl. Things get worse when Ping
starts to fall for Bo (and vice-versa, which is always
the case with movies like this). However, Pearl isn't
about to let Bo go without a fight.
Trying to watch this as an
actual film is impossible. This is commercially produced
cinema designed for mass consumption. The jokes, gags,
and joys of the movie are all based on identification
with the various stars and the roles they play. Wong
Jing references himself numerous times, and even decides
to roast other directors. In a famous parody of Wong
Kar-Wai, Ping idolizes pompous director called Wong
Jing Wai, who makes mind-numbing cinema that angers
audiences. While attending one of his films with Bo
(a sickeningly funny parody of Ashes of Time),
she even runs into her idol, who has to escape from
the theater patrons because they want to beat him up.
That isn't the end to the movie
references. We also get references to Shanghai Beach, Chungking Express and Speed. The finale
of the movie takes place on a bus that's stuck at 50
mph, where Bo must choose between Ping and Pearl. But
do we really care? I don't think so. Finding any of
this truly compelling is near impossible. All we can
do is sit back and take in the wall-to-wall movie parodies
with some sort of amusement.
To be honest about this
mindless piece of fluff, it's actually not that bad.
Sure, any romance and drama feels cheap and pointless,
but the movie does create laughs. The parodies are great,
and Anita Yuen and Jordan Chan are fine comedians. So,
it can be said that Wong Jing has succeeded at making
mindless fluff that actually amuses part of the time.
It's still not a great movie, though. (Kozo 1995/2001) |
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