Modern Romance
Director: Lee Lik-chi/ Lam Wai-lun/ Andrew
Lau/ Wong Jing
Year: 1994
Rating: 6.0
Every now and then
a piece of silly fluff is just what you are in the mood for. Something in
which you don’t have to use even an iota of brainpower to follow. You could
be cooking, cleaning and playing Mahjongg and still follow it. This is that
sort of film. It’s as old as film itself – girl meets boy – – they
fall in love and problems ensue. This film offers this scenario in nice
bite size pieces. It is only ever so slightly amusing, but comes in the
lovely wrappings of Chingmy Yau, Carrie Ng and Christy Chung. Along for the
ride is Sandra Ng to add some crude and comic seasoning.
The film basically follows the love lives of these four career women. They
all work in the same office and share their romances with one another and
receive moral support from one another. In almost “Love - American Style”
chapters, the film is broken down into four segments in which each of the
women looks for and finds love.
First up to bat is Christy Chung – looking
I must admit as smooth and lovely as a fresh moist slice of pumpkin pie.
One feels like they could dive in and swim the 100 meter butterfly in her
big brown doey eyes. Her character is incredibly superstitious - won’t wear
yellow, won’t get into a cab with the wrong license plate numbers – and will
only marry a man with “five elements” in his name, born in the year of the
Ox and he has to be her twentieth boyfriend. Her nineteenth boyfriend tries
to sabotage this by setting her up with Michael Chow – his patient who is
both impotent and incontinent.
Carrie Ng is very much enjoying herself - romancing and bedding three
different men. There is Roy Cheung, a cop, who she likes playing kinky cop
games with, then a married man and finally her ex-husband, Natalis Chan, who
has just gotten out of jail. She tries juggling them around, but eventually
they all find out about one another and decide to play a game of Russian Roulette
to decide who should woo Carrie.
Chomping on a cigar and hitting on all the ladies at work is the boss –
but in this case the boss is a female, Sandra Ng – an avowed lesbian with
not an inkling of an interest in the male sex. She and another fellow both
attempt to court the same woman and both are fleeced out of money from her.
The woman tells them to play the song “Love Affair of Swindler” for her and
she will be right back. No such chance. They commiserate with one another,
get drunk, and end up in bed together. Sandra is horrified when she wakes
up to find a man in her bed. But you can guess where that story is going.
The final story concerns the very adorable Chingmy Yau – who lives by the
creed “marriage is the grave of love”. That is until she runs into the perfect
man – Michael Wong. Don’t bletch, please. He has money, he has looks and as
Chingmy happily sighs to her friend Sandra “we did it six times last night”.
What more could a woman want? Well, fidelity perhaps – as Chingmy thinks he
has cheated on her and she tries to “bobbitt” him with a pair of scissors.
That would be about it. Not a lot to hang your hat on – but you don't always
need a hat. It is an easy way to pass some time while you are contemplating
the problems of the world.