Prince Charming.
Directed By Wong Jing (1999)
Starring: Andy Lau, Nick Cheung, Michelle Reis, Deannie Yip, Suzi Kwan,Yu Wong Gwong.
Pics Courtesy of Juan Fei Hung
After half an hour of unsuccessfull attempts, I finally got my Playstation to read the bloody disk, so here goes. It's yet another collaboration between the 2 of the busiest people in the Hong Kong film industry - Wong Jing and Andy Lau. Andy Lau's "Conman" sidekick Nick Cheung also features as Andy Lau's... er... sidekick.
After an amusing opening scene, in which Wah (Lau) has introduced us to his family and friends (including his mother whom he calls Slut - she calls him Asshole! Nick Cheung is called T.A.R.T. - Take Advantage, Ready made Trash!), the story begins. Wah's girlfriend leaves to Taiwan to become a pop star. He's a bit upset at this, so his mother (Yip Tak Han) prays to God that he will meet a decent woman for once. Meanwhile, Yu Wong Gwong and his daughter (Michelle Reis) are travelling from Shanghai to HK for business. 16 years before, his wife left and moved to HK, so his daughter never knew her mother. He makes her promise not to search for her as he says she's a bad lady. When they get to HK, it turns out that Tart's girlfriend (Suki Kwan) is to be Personal Assistant to Reis and to keep her company while Daddy spends lots of money on a few corporations and the like. Needless to say, this causes her and Andy Lau to hook up and Lau's mother agrees to help her look for her mother as she used to know her. Her father mistakes her wandering off for a kidnapping, so the Police are called in, with Andy Lau being the main suspect. While in questioning though, she really does get nabbed.........
Not a classic by any means, but not bad at all. It's a nice light, action, romance, comedy, etc. Everything you'd expect from Wong Jing really. One thing that stood out was Andy Lau's haircut - if you look at the cover, he looks alarmingly like Gary Glitter!! Nick Cheung seems like a promising prospect, he got quite a few laughs from me in this and Conman. Him and Lau team up well. The performance of Yip Tak Han as Wah's mother absolutely stole the show in every scene she was in. In one scene, she asks Yu Wong Gwong "do I look sexy?" His answer in the subtitles was "you look like.... Elizabeth Taylor", but I swear what he actually said was "you look like.... Wong Kar Wai."!!! Any bilingual people out there? And why is Wong Jing putting all these simiulated commercials during his movies? There was a load during the cup final in "The Conman" and in Prince Charming, there's a complete pisstake of Andy Lau's Erricson commercials, with Nick Cheung playing Lau's role.
All in all, plenty of laughs to keep it going, with a couple of fine ladies thrown in to concoct the Wong Jing formula. Worth checking out - 7.5/10