It's a Drink, It's a Bomb
Director: David Chung
Year: 1985
Rating: 6.0
George Lam is the
equivalent of an acting black hole. He just sucks the energy out of any scene
and any actor within hailing distance. The man would sleepwalk through an
earthquake or the Dresden bombings. The DVD biography states that he evenly
divides his time between work and play. My guess is that he works much harder
at play than he ever does in his acting. It doesn’t seem to matter what
role he is performing he always plays exactly the same character – calm,
limp, droll and moribund. Watching him makes me feel like I am slowly atrophying.
OK – so much for my George Lam rant. It’s just that for some mysterious reason
he was quite popular in the 1980’s and appeared in a number of films with
some of my favorite actresses – Brigitte, Michelle and Maggie – and his black
hole aura manages to make all of them seem listless at times.
Here Maggie Cheung is doing her bubbly vintage 1985 Magster – all crooked
tooth charm and more effervescence than a vat of Scheweppes ginger ale. Maggie
does her best to fill the film with energy, but she needs someone to react
to her goofiness – a sounding board or a mirror – but Lam gives nothing back
as he does little more than raise the occasional eyebrow to signify that he
is awake. Then you have John Sham as a mile a minute non-stop talking cabbie
who is as irritating as Lam but in a very different way. The problem with
this film is that since there isn’t really much of a plot, it depends on
the chemistry of this trio. Though the writers tried very hard to come up
with situations that would force these characters to bond, I never could imagine
that this very disparate threesome would have anything to do with one another.
Even though much of the film struck me as somewhat flat, it still has a
few positive things going for it. Maggie is simply a delight to watch. During
these early years in her career, she really couldn’t act a whit – there isn’t
a subtle acting note in the film from her – but she has so much giddy charm
and always appears to be having so much fun that the viewer is swept along
with her. Also having some fun with his role is Tsui Kam-Kong - decked out
in lipstick and mascara - who appears to be undecided between a career as
a killer or as a Revlon cover girl!
Two Japanese killers (Eddie Ko and Tsui) have contracted for a deadly bomb
that comes in a soft drink can, but at the last minute one of the makers of
the bomb changes his mind and runs away with it. The chase is on – and continues
till the end of the film. Eddie Ko wielding a samurai sword and Tsui with
his miniature cross-bow track down the man and kill him – but three witnesses
see this all take place.
Maggie is a wealthy airhead, Lam a serious chemist and Sham a headache inducing
cab driver with wishes to be a cop. The three of them are soon being pursued
by the killers because they think Maggie knows where the bomb is. The trio
tell their story to policeman Paul Chun Pui, but he thinks they are all crazy
and suggests a psychiatrist. They decide the only way to save themselves from
the relentless killers is to find the bomb and get the goods on the bad guys.
Of course they don’t have the faintest idea where to start!
The film has some amusing moments – a good finale - and there is certainly
the intent of creating a madcap romp, but much of it seems less than inspired
and Lam is like an albatross around the necks of the rest of the cast.