Movie review: Horseplay (PG)
PUBLISHED ONMarch 20, 2014 5:00 PMByYip Wai Yee
Review: Adventure Comedy
HORSEPLAY (PG)
96 minutes / Opens Friday / **
Even the top-notch cast cannot hide the fact that the movie is utterly dull and lacking in heart.
Starring big names Tony Leung Ka Fai, Kelly Chen and Ekin Cheng, the comedy follows TV reporter Mui (Chen), who works with detective Cheung (Cheng) in the hope of uncovering the identity of the elusive thief known as the Nine-tailed Fox (Leung).
The veteran actors work really hard here - 56-year-old Leung is seen sprinting and gesticutating for comic effect every time he appears, but the film's pacing is off and every joke falls flat.
What writer-director Lee Chi Ngai (Magic Kitchen, 2004) does succeed in delivering is some beautiful panoramic views of London and Prague, where the film was shot on location.
Script-wise however, he relies only on childish slapstick gags, none of which are very funny. It is exhausting, for example, to watch the overly-long scene where a beautiful assassin (top Hong Kong model Mandy Lieu) tries over and over again to kill the Nine-tailed Fox using a needle disguised as a pen.
Twenty minutes into the film and you know the ridiculous horseplay has gone far enough.
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