The Temptation of Office Ladies

Director: Ricky Lau
Year: 2000
Rating: 5.5

Even though this title has a slightly pornographic ring to it- it instead falls within the tradition of many HK films that deal with the lives of single women living in the big city. Like some earlier films (Why Wild Girls, Modern Love, Modern Romance) it follows in the footsteps of three women who are concerned primarily with two troublesome issues – money and men. They have too little of the former and too much of the latter. It’s particularly an odd title though when you consider that there are no office ladies in the film and very little temptation – unless it was to fast forward at times!
 

It’s basically a frivolous little low budget film, but it also attempts occasionally to interject some serious subject matters – the death of a child and gang rape – but does so in such a clumsy and ill conceived manner that it really hurts what little charm the film had going for it. For example, at one point a boyfriend of one of the girls has uninvited sex with another of the girls who has passed out from drinking. Later through her foggy memory she asks him ”Did you touch me” to which he giggles. End of issue. What does make the film enjoyable at times is simply the comradery of the characters and solid performances from the three women.
 

The three young women – Jo Jo (Lam Hung-Yi), Ida (Claire Yiu) and Mon (Pinky Cheung) live together in a small Hello Kitty festooned apartment and try to get through life as well as they can. Jo Jo works at a bar where she has to play “fist games” all night long leading to her usually being drunk by evenings end. Ida has a good for nothing boyfriend who wants only to laze about and live off her meager earnings. Mon doesn’t seem to do much of anything except live off the favors of sympathetic men. At one point, she pouts enough to get one man to buy her an expensive watch, but as soon as he is out of the room she is on the phone calling another male friend. She tells him that she was forced to buy this expensive watch because he wouldn’t do so. He immediately agrees to compensate her to which she gives a rousing victory cheer! Apparently these manipulative skills are enough to qualify as the stockbroker that she later becomes!
 

For the most part, the male species comes in for a ten round thrashing in this film. Liars, boors, rapists, cheats are only a few of the bad characteristics that the men in this film have. The message here seems to be – if you see a man, squash it!
 

Perhaps the only reason to see this film is for the performance of the actress who plays Jo Jo. Lam Hung-Yi, a Taiwanese model,  whether in long hair or short - absolutely sizzles in this film like bacon on a burning grill. When she walks into a room she exudes sexual heat like a leaking radioactive plant ready to explode. This also turned out to be her last Hong Kong film it seems.

Veteran character actor Billy Lau shows up for a while as an extremely dislikable fellow and Ben Lam makes a short cameo as well.