One of the lowest-grossing Hong Kong films of all time, taking in a not-so-whopping HK$540 (around US$69) at the box office, the Thai/Hong Kong co-production Bar Paradise actually isn't all that that bad. It just feels like the film-makers never really seem to know where to go with their ideas.

The story revolves around a bar in Thailand, which is run by a woman named Beauty (Nahatai Lekbumrung). The bar, to borrow from Obi-Wan Kenobi, is a hive of scum and villainy, and so Beauty employs a pair of bodyguards (Julian Cheung and Gordon Lam) to keep the riff-raff out. Both men are in love with Beauty, despite the fact that she used to be a man. Complicating matters further is Beauty's father (Eric Tsang), who wants to get rid of Beauty one way or another so that his presidential campaign is not tainted by scandal.

This is a fairly unique setup, at least when compared with your usual low-budget Hong Kong crime drama, and the first act shows promise, as co-directors Gregory Hatanaka and Gary Mak do a fine job in setting up the characters. But then they don't know what to do with them. The second act meanders about as the audience doesn't really know what's going on, as we're shown a seemingly endless barrage of scenes of a camera planted in the middle of a room with people just talking to each other and saying nothing of importance.

Things do pick up near the finale, but elements like a rote and robotic shootout come off like they were thrown in to pad the running time instead of actually adding anything of value to the film. This sort of thing is disappointing, especially to this reviewer, who has seen hundreds of these types of movies over the years. Whether it was a lack of effort or talent by the directors, or a lack of a budget, the originality of the plot is quickly thrown to the side in favor of -- if not totally pandering to the tired audience -- just trying to finish the damn film.

RATING: 5