In Her Fatal Ways II, Carol "Dodo" Cheng plays Nan, a member of the Mainland's police force who travels to Hong Kong with her sidekicks (Alfred Cheung and Michael Chan) to track down a deadly gunrunner. The trio team up with a Hong Kong inspector, Wu (Waise Lee), and the culture clash holds up the investigation for a bit. But eventually everyone learns to team up and heads forward to bring the criminal to justice.

Her Fatal Ways II is your average Hong Kong comedy movie, meaning that you're probably going to love it or hate it. I would suspect most of those falling into the "hate" camp would be westerners, because like a lot of HK comedies, most of of the humor is very specifically tailored to the region. Whether it's the "country bumpkin in the big city" kind of stuff like Dodo being confused by the stewardesses on a "fancy" flight, or Cantonese wordplay like when Dodo tries to infiltrate a Triad gang by using slang, most of the stuff here is going to fly over the heads of non-Hong Kongers.

That's not to say none of the comedy works for English speakers. There's several funny sequences that'll appeal to just about anyone, such as when Dodo mangles a song at a karaoke bar. When she tries to sing another, the video is replaced with footage from a telethon, which leads to some chuckle-inducing results. It's just a shame those moments are pretty few and far between.

Also, for a movie that is pretty breezy and family-friendly for most of its' running time, some viewers might find the violent turn during the last half-hour or so jarring. Something like this is definitely not unheard of in Hong Kong movies, which are known for mixing up genres, and usually I find the change-ups entertaining -- if they're handled right. Dual-handed gunfights with splattering blood just seemed out of place and a bit exploitative when they're used here.

At the end of the day, though, it's not so off-putting as to ruin the movie. The bottom line is that most of you out there reading this already have an opinion about Hong Kong comedies firmly cemented. Her Fatal Ways II (for better or worse) is going to do absolutely nothing to change that.

RATING: 5