Magnificent Scoundrels
Don’t blink while you are watching this Stephen
Chow vehicle or you will likely miss something pretty funny. It is a hilarious
little tale of scam artists with routines being thrown at you like baseballs
in a batting cage – just one after another. Some are classics.
Chow plays a small time hustler – often pretending
to be an illegal immigrant washed ashore – in front of a tour bus and just
happens to be carrying some Chinese antiques. He goes to his mentor Karl
Maka who inspires him to go for the big gig. While pretending to be a blind
man in order to get a taxi – it doesn’t work as the crowd beats the hell
out of him anyway – he gets a ride from Teresa Mo (Hard Boiled). Thinking
that he is blind, she tries to pickpocket him and when that doesn’t work
pretends to have hit an old lady with the car so that he will pay compensation.
Chow wants to help the old lady so Mo becomes the little old lady, Chow
says call the cops – Mo pretends to be a cop, then a terrorist and finally
a dog. It’s a fabulous routine and it looks as if Chow can barely contain
his laughter.
It turns out that Mo is in trouble with a loan
shark – Roy Cheung – who sends his brother – the none too bright – Yuen
Wah to get payment. Chow comes to her aid as the Blind Swordman – but in
the end they both are told by Cheung that they have a week to come up with
the money. So Chow and Mo become partners and come up with various scams
to get the money.
At the same time Wu Ma is trying to pull a scam
that involves pretending to be a rich man who is waiting for a wealthy
kid from the US to show up. Instead Chow shows up and is mistaken for the
kid. Now both are trying to scam each other. The icing on the cake is when
Wu Ma brings in his “daughter” a call girl played by the very bounteous
Amy Yip to seduce Chow.
The Yipster is terrific in this film and has a
few great scenes. One is perhaps the funniest and yet most disgusting kiss
with Chow in the history of film. I began laughing so hard I almost felt
ill.
This is just a funny film – not as sophisticated
as some of Chow’s other films – a lot of pratfalls and gags – but I rarely
went more than a few minutes without a good laugh.
My rating for this film: 7.5
