Movie Review – Love Undercover

Love Undercover is a Hong Kong comedy film directed by Joe Ma Wai-ho. It has sequels. When the topic gets hit, a series of the film will be produced like Internal Affairs, IP Man and Overheard.

A young woman Fong Lai Kuen works in the lost property department in the police station. Her staff number is PC11661. She is a bit stupid and clumsy and barely passes the police training. She is chosen to go undercover to catch members of the triad. Au Hoi Man who is an adopted son and his father is in charge of the triad studies to be a businessman. When they met, he thought she was deaf and a Cinderella who was just a waitress and had a boyfriend Chow that forced her to be a prostitute to pay his gambling debt. He would like to be her hero to change her destiny. Chow is forced to be her boyfriend for the mission. He almost goes insane for being hit as a bastard boyfriend. The two undercover have to be checked for their mental condition. Fong and Au gradually fall in love with each other. They are from different parties. Triads and policemen cannot be friends. Fong has to choose to follow her duty rather than her feelings. Fong becomes honest with her love and reveals her identity to stop him from killing someone who carries cocaine. Moreover, Au’s ex-girlfriend revenge and shoots Fong. Luckily, the bullet did not hit her body. They date and live happily after. Miriam Yeung and Daniel Wu look great together. He drives a motorbike and invites her to get into it for their dating like Andy Lau and Jacklyn Wu from A Moment of Romance. Suddenly, it becomes a fairy tale and it is like a movie.

It is a comedy that has clumsy plots and slapstick humor that would make you laugh. For example, when the policeman hears the sound of opening a champagne, he misunderstands that it is the sound of a gunshot. Then he goes to meet people from the triad who disclose his identity as a policeman. When Fong is shot by Au’s ex-girlfriend, the gunshot is covered by the medal that saves her life. The reaction to ad hoc incidents is hilarious. When Officer Chung is asked how to write the word Sir, he makes it up instantly. This joke has been popular for many years. After 22 years, it is still a light and hilarious comedy.

In comedy films, the actors' performance affects the effect of poking people’s laughing points. The tempo in comedy films has to be maintained. Miriam Yeung was a singer at first then she expanded her career to the movie field. She has an image that she is easy to laugh at everything that brings a happy atmosphere to people. Her laughter becomes her signature. Daniel Wu does not go the comedian route in acting. His handsome appearance on screen already catches the audience’s attention. Having an appealing appearance is one of the advantages of being an actor. He is not meant to be a comedian actor. He is not just good at acting. His appearance does not stop him from performing his directing talent. He once directed the film The Heavenly Kings and won Best New Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2007.

There are lots of comedian actors. Before Miriam, the laughter of Lydia Shum who passed away is her signature. She is well-known for Happy Fruit of Hong Kong which means pistachio in Cantonese. Another comedian actress Sandra Ng, she would make comical jokes. When she acts, she is like being herself. She does not vilify herself to make people laugh. Her way of being a comedian is to say shocking words that surprise people. Another actress Mo Shun Kwan has her unique tempo to act in this kind of film. The actor Stephen Chow's non-sense behaviours in films usually can make the audiences laugh. The duet of Stephen Chow and Ng Man-tat makes great interaction in comedy. The actor Ronald Cheng also has the charm to bring joy to comedy films.

The group of actors can create a silly and hilarious atmosphere. For example, the policemen pretend to be Fong’s family members and join the gathering held by Au. They try hard to hide their identity. When they have gunfights, they make silly mistakes.

Comedy films bring joy to the hectic Urban citizen. There are many outstanding Hong Kong comedy films such as All's Well, Ends Well, Fight Back to School and Tricky Brains all starred Stephen Chow. In Hong Kong, when we talk about comedies, two names will come across our minds that are Wong Tze Wah and Hui Koon-man. They both held their standup comedian shows. Hui Koon-kit is well-known as a Hong Kong singer. He worked with his elder brother Hui Koon-man on TVB for a TV comedy show called Hui Brothers Show which is great entertainment bringing laughter to the audience. What makes Wong Tze Wah and Hui Koon-man stand out from other comedians is that their jokes are not just entertainment. The jokes include satires about living and are thought-provoking. Some amateur young comedians hold stand-up comedy. Can the talent of being people laugh to be trained? Are there any skills in doing the show? What would they prepare before the show? It seems they do not just write the script freely. There are skills to make you laugh. For example, when the topic is related to sex or teasing people about sex, the majority of the audience will laugh as we seldom talk about this topic openly and discuss it with the public which is supposed a private topic.

To conclude, those who can write and shoot comedy are gifted. They give blessings to many people in their dull times. Nowadays, there are no Hong Kong comedy films that make Hong Kong people remember. Comedy films provides adjustment in the hectic lives. The rise of this kind of film is expected.