This movie is available for purchase at www.hkflix.com

Support this site

cover

Lawyer, Lawyer

Year of release: 1997

Genre: comedy

Director: Joe Ma

Writer: Joe Ma

Stars: Stephen Chow, Eric Kot, Chingmy Yau, Karen Mok, Nancy Lan, Tats Lau, Law Kar-Ying, Wyman Wong, Lee Sui Kay, Spencer Lam, Bowie Lam, Lee Kin-Yan, Moses Chan, Chung Ging Fai, Cheung Tat-Ming, Vincent Kok, Simon Lui, Paul Fonoroff, Annabelle Lau

Rated IIB for language

picture

picture

picture

picture

Having talent like Stephen Chow's is a double-edged sword. It allows you to get away with a bit of dodgy film-making, but at the same time, fans expect more from you than from your "average" actor. Lawyer, Lawyer was one of Stephen Chow's few mis-steps, actually bombing at the box office. But I would say that it's not a "bad" movie by any stretch of the imagination -- it's just more disappointing than anything else.

The film takes place in Guangdong shortly after the transfer of Hong Kong to the British. Stephen plays a lawyer named Chan Mong Gat who spends his days playing pranks on people, most notably his servant Ho Foon (Eric Kot). After Ho Foon meets a pretty puppeteer named Lotus Shui (Chingmy Yau), Chan plays a cruel trick that sends Ho packing to Hong Kong and leaves his recently-returned wife (Karen Mok) angry. After an altercation, Ho is framed for murder, and so Chan heads to Hong Kong to defend his friend, only to be stymied by British law and procedure.

In my review of Chow's Justice, My Foot!, I noted that perhaps most of the humor would probably be lost on Western audiences due to cultural differences. Even though the situation is somewhat similar here (both films involve Chow playing a fast-talking lawyer) the fact remains that Lawyer, Lawyer just isn't that funny. Sure, things falling out of Eric Kot's ass generates a chuckle the first time, but the joke is repeated several times throughout the movie. Even though Stephen Chow's movies feature plenty of over-the-top mugging and physical comedy, in his best films (like King of Comedy) there is a degree of subtlety to the proceedings, which is not at all present here. It seems like director/writer Joe Ma just threw everything at the viewer, hoping that something would stick. Unfortunately, nothing really does.

Woefully, the supporting cast is under-used as well. As talented as Stephen Chow is, a strong supporting cast has been key to his more successful films. A lot of Chow's movies have strong female characters, but that is not the case here. Both Karen Mok and Chingmy Yau play stereotypical "jade vase" roles. Chingmy's character, in particular, is extremely under-written -- she literally disappears for the middle portion of the film. Also, even though I am not a big fan of Eric Kot, he has proven in movies like You Shoot, I Shoot that he can actually be funny, but you wouldn't know it from his performance.

Lawyer, Lawyer is one of Stephen Chow's lesser-known movies and after a viewing, it's easy to see why. While, again, it's not a bad movie by any means, it lacks a lot of the spark and creativity of his better work. From the start, the film as a whole feels a bit flat. While there are a few funny bits here and there, Lawyer, Lawyer fails to maintain the manically funny pace of most of Stephen Chow's output.

RATING: 5.5

DVD Information

Company: Mei Ah (catalog number 595)
Picture format: widescreen
Sound mix: Dolby 5.1, Dolby 2.0
Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles: Chinese, English
Extras: trailer, data bank

There is a bit of wear and tear on the picture in places and the new Dolby remix drowns the voices a few times, but this is at least better than Mei Ah's previous release.

picture

Movie Review index