In Super Fans, Sammy Leung plays Sum Lee, the star of an American Idol-type show. But he's facing some stiff competition from the upcomer Yee Cheng (Cheng Ga-Wing), so one of Sum's obsessed fans, Sussie (Charlene Choi), plays a prank during a press confrence that seems to have clinched the trophy for Sum.

That is, until Sussie finds out Sum's true personality and sets out to make Yee the winner. Oh, yeah, there's also a plot line about Sussie's childhood love Shui (Leo Koo), who still holds a torch for her. Believe me, this is all as truly compelling as it sounds.

Anyway, first off, can someone please, please, PLEASE, tell me how in the holy hell Sammy Leung (I refuse to call him just "Sammy") continues to get starring roles in movies? I used to think Ekin Cheng was bad, and Edison Chen was even worse. But compared to the vortex of suckitude that is Mr. Leung, those two come off as classically-trained thespians. It seems like any movie Leung is in is destined to fail, and Super Fans doesn't break that trend.

Now, seeing as how I am not a fan of either Cantopop or TV "talent" shows, perhaps I am not in this movie's target audience. On the other hand, if director Eric Kot and screenwriter Anselm Chan were actually smart about their process, we might have gotten an actual honest-to-God entertaining movie here -- even with Lil' Sammy stinking up the proceedings.

The film-makers could have seemingly fairly easily created a picture which pokes fun at the insane tabloid-driven world of stardom in Hong Kong -- something that might cross borders and been interesting to someone other than lonely 13-year-olds. But instead, we get a long, boring, and annoying commerical for the pop stars planted in here under the guise of making an actual movie.

Super Fans represents pretty much everything that is wrong with Hong Kong films nowadays. It's so obviously obsessed with making a buck by any way possible that it's hard to consider it anything but a blatant attempt to cash in on the stars' names, much less anything close to an actual work of art.

Whether it's through music videos disguised as plot exposition, or some of the most blatant product placement ever (for Hong Kong productions, that's saying an awful lot) the film-makers apparently forgot that people like to watch movies to be entertained, not to be hammered over the head with a cheeseball message delivered by horrible acting.

I have a really hard time believing that even the most dedicated teenybopper fan of the stars here would be willing to slog through this crud, but then again, I never thought I'd be talking about Sammy Leung as a lead actor. But, honestly, even if you're a glutton for punishment and/or the world's biggest Charlene Choi fan, your time and money would much better be served elsewhere. Life's too short to waste it sitting through trash like this.

RATING: 3