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Year:    2002
Studio:  Mei Ah Film Production Company/
         Brilliant Idea Group

Feature: 3/5
DVD:     2/5

Feature

Fong Lai Kuen (Miriam Yeung) is an incompentent graduate of the Hong Kong Police Academy. She tries hard but is clearly unsuited to police work, having enrolled and taken up her profession because of a pledge she made to her deceased father. But the police has a serious manpower shortage and Kuen is assigned to the Lost Property Department.

Life behind the LPD desk is boring for Kuen. Until one day she's chosen for an important undercover assignment. She will pose as a waitress and spy on Au Hoi Man (Daniel Wu), son of a triad kingpin. It's a routine mission that becomes complicated when Hoi falls for the intriguing deaf waitress.

Love Undercover is a Hong Kong romantic comedy apparently styled after American romantic comedies. The comedy is more of the "lots of things go wrong and Kuen constantly has to make things up" variety. The romance is typical and fairly well done. Everything is in Cantonese or Mandarin, though apparently a lot of English sayings are in the current language like "Yes, Sir" and "Sorry Sir". It's weird when they're talking and the occasional English phrase pops out.

It's a fast moving movie with lots going on. I never felt like it was rushed but I looked at the time and realized that in 30 minutes a lot of stuff had happened. There are lots of quirky characters, some amount of comedy violence, and a lot of almost slapstick comedy. All in all it's a fun movie.

Actors


Miriam Yeung is cute. I find myself attracted to asian girls more than before. Maybe because they look exotic to me, growing up and associating with caucasian types. Anyway, Yeung is lively and expressive and joyful and someone you can fall in love with.

Daniel Wu seems like the typical asian nice guy that is a perfect match for the cute asian girl. Even without words I could tell that his character was falling in love with Kuen (and vice versa).

DVD

Other than the main feature, nothing else is substitled in English. There is a 15-minute behind the scenes, 13 deleted scenes, a blooper reel, the theatrical trailer, and a music video for the catchy theme song. All relatively enjoyable to watch even though I didn't understand a word they were saying.

The English substitles (and any time English is used) is awful. Totally like it was done by people who had only studied English. It's understandable enough to follow the movie but a lot of phrases just didn't make any sense. Good thing this wasn't a dialogue-driven drama.

Recommendations

My brother says he bought the DVD for $5, which is a great buy. It's a fun movie with a good romance and even if you only know English it's worth buying and watching it.
Copyright (c) 2003 Kevin C. Wong
Page Created: December 1, 2003 Page Last Updated: December 1, 2003