My Funny Intern
Reviewed by YTSL
A significant proportion of overseas Hong Kong
film fans are aware that Brigitte Lin Ching-Hsia originally hails from
Taiwan. However, not that many seem to have viewed any of the Taiwanese
movies -- especially those made prior to 1980 -- in which this East Asian
cinematic legend appeared (and usually was accorded the lead female role).
To some extent, this is understandable, on account of (English subtitled)
home video versions of quite a few of these being difficult, maybe impossible,
to find and most -- if not all -- of them feeling plus looking very dated.
At the same time, the prospect of their often being chockfull of appealing,
fascinating and at times downright swoon-inducing views of the then immensely
cute as well as youthful actress who figures in them can seem like ample
compensation for the trials undergone by those dedicated BLCH fans who
track down and check out these, if truth be told, frequently alternately
or simultaneously insipid and silly works.
Something that is a sort of bonus feature -- and
possible source of empathetic amusement -- in such as MY FUNNY INTERN is
that many of the characters in them appear to be as struck and besotted
by the beauty of Brigitte Lin as many of her real life admirers.
As an example, in the opening shots of this 1976 offering, the “houseman”
medico that the then twenty-two year old essays (whose name is Dr. Fang
Jie Liar -- with the last bit being pronounced as Lee-ahr rather than like
a teller of lies) is amusingly shown leaving a trail of obviously visually
impressed, gawping and momentarily physically stunned male patients and
other men in her wake as she seemingly obliviously makes her way to her
office. Additionally, a little later in the movie, the good doctor
is seen having to deal with a long line of men who are entirely willing
to fake being ill in order to have a short face-to-face encounter with
a consciously curt and deliberately pain-inducing -- by way of a 500 or
even 5000 cc. injection prescribing! -- yet undeniably pretty her.
In light of the extra bother that Dr. Fang has
to endure compared to other physicians (or just because she’s played by
Brigitte!), perhaps she could be excused for taking risks that may result
in misdiagnosis and medical malpractice. Still, the particularly
lovely nosed as well as thick eye browed individual might count herself
fortunate that when one instance of the former occurred, she did realize
that she had made an error before she completely dismissed the patient,
and also that temporarily flu-stricken he happened to come in the form
of MY FUNNY INTERN’s main man: a football (soccer to Americans...) player
cum coach named Lu Yi Min (played by Ms. Lin’s six time co-star, the first-billed
-- for this film -- Alan Tang) who is hardly about to buck the trend of
finding her to be very attractive and thinking that she definitely would
be worth romantically pursuing.
Indeed, so serious is Yi Min in his efforts to
woo the single woman -- who lives with her three hours younger twin brother
(Fang Sin is portrayed by Raymond Liu) -- that he personally resorts to
reading and following a host of creative suggestions tendered in a newspaper’s
regular romantic advice column (written by someone identified in print
as Ding Ping but whom he actually knows -- though he doesn’t find this
out for a time -- by another moniker). Sensing that the formerly
playboyish individual really may have come across his one true love in
the sweet-faced -- even when solemn or darkly somber -- Dr. Fang, some
of his female as well as male pals set about trying to help him win her
over. As luck would have it though, not only does one of their frankly
ridiculous schemes majorly backfire -- and incur her disapproval and ire
-- but an unrelated plan involving another female friend of Yi Min’s getting
him to pretend to be her fiancé (so that she can fend off a suitor
that she is not attracted to) goes awry when Dr. Fang mistakes fiction
for reality.
Just as Yi Min managed to get his mother to smooth
over one problematic incident however, another older female -- in this
case, yet one more of his platonic friends, whose work as the manager of
a modeling agency meant that she also coincidentally was -- at least for
a while, anyways -- the boss of Fang Sin’s girlfriend -- ended up having
an influential role in ensuring that MY FUNNY INTERN would have the happy
ending that surely was sought by the great bulk of its audience.
For my part, while I am not unopposed to the movie having the upbeat conclusion
that it does, I have to admit to wishing that there actually had been more
opportunities for its leading lady (who appeared in a total of twelve productions
in 1976, by the way) to demonstrate her considerable acting ability and
range than there were in this undemanding offering that turned out to be
insufficiently filled with both laugh out loud comedy and high melodrama.
My rating for the film: 5.5