SYNOPSIS:
Irresponsible heart-throb Teddy (Eric Tsang) never knows he
has a gorgeous daughter, Pearl (Meng Yao). Short of cash,
his friend Wendy (Jo Koo) finds 5 desperate men - The Preacher
(Chin Ka Lok), Tony (Cheung Siu Fai), Bruce (Wong Cho Lam),
Broke-back (Lam Ka Tung) and Casanova (Lam Tsz Sin), who are
willing to pay to learn knowledge of chasing girls from Teddy.
Unfortunately, Pearl becomes their target.Teddy's long-time
rival, Rocky (Ah Nat) also has intentions towards her. Will
Pearl end up as a victim to these 7 lustful men, including
her father?
MOVIE REVIEW
Ten minutes
into this Hong Kong movie (one of the countless pictures which
never made it to the big screens here) and I wondered to myself:
“What am I doing, wasting my precious time on a, well,
to put it nicely, bad movie like this?” I was on the
verge of stopping the player to take a nap (yes, apparently
that is more constructive to me at that point in time) before
I realized that I had the civic duty of informing our dear
readers of what potential harm this movie could do to you.
So I continued
watching the flick. The entire remaining 90 minutes of it.
Produced
by Wong Jing and Eric Tsang (why am I not surprised?), this
100-minute (god, someone feel sorry for me for sitting through
this crap!) tells the story of five men played by Lam Tse
Sin, Cheung Siu Fai, Wong Cho Lam, Lam Ka Tung and Chin Ka
Lok (the last two being the more familiar names) who take
lessons from Tsang on how to win women’s hearts. Along
come Tsang’s daughter (newcomer Meng Yao), who’s
apparently the “Beauty” in the movie title. And
what happens next is really of no consequence.
Those
who are familiar with Wong’s brand of comedy may realize
that he has reached a new low with this Chung Shu Kai-directed
movie. With a sloppy plot and really low production values,
I really wonder who gave the go-ahead to make this picture.
True, I was amused by the bikini clad girls (come on, which
guy wouldn’t be?) who have obviously been exploited,
but the thought of the really bad jokes just made me decide
that this is the shoddiest movie I’ve seen – ever.
Don’t even get me started about the beach scenes –
is that place they shot at a piece of reclaimed land or something?
It’s almost too hideous for anyone’s eyes.
I also
feel embarrassed for the cast who had to be part of this silliness.
It’s amazing how actors like Lam (he was cool in Johnnie
To’s Election series) and Chin (he was a gem in Ang
Lee’s Lust, Caution) actually signed up to be in movies
like this which kind of tarnish any self-respected movie-goer’s
fine impression about them. Lam Suet’s (Brothers, Invisible
Target) comical bully was a nice distraction from the rest
of the obnoxious characters, and I almost thought it was sinful
that Wong actually cast his own Dad Wang Tian-lin in the movie.
After
my continual whines and rants, it’s obvious that this
movie is loathsome and intolerable to sit through. Yet, for
the good of mankind, I have given up 100 whole minutes of
my precious weekend to inform you of what to avoid on your
next trip to the video store. Some readers may feel that I
am putting a front of a self-important and serious movie critic
here, but when my parents shook their heads disapprovingly
at the DVD’s badly-designed cover, I guess it really
says a lot about the movie. Don’t say I didn’t
warn you.
SPECIAL
FEATURES :
This Code 3 DVD contains only a Trailer for the movie.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The
disc’s visual transfer is okay, but why would I want
to care? There are original Cantonese and dubbed Mandarin
audio tracks to choose from.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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