Dummy Mommy Without a Baby
Reviewed by YTSL
Before I get to (more) properly reviewing this
2001 comedy, there are two things I feel a need to let off some steam about.
An arguably nitpicky complaint concerns the latter tendency on the part
of Chinese-to-English translators of film titles and dialogue to opt for
American rather than British English words (Hence this offering’s English
language title failing to having two words that really rhymed as well as
there having been those hex errors in “Shaolin Soccer” that arose from
a false supposition that “soccer” can be used in all of the contexts as
that of “football”). The far more serious grievance that I have pertains
to the truly unnecessary casual racism -- like that embodied in the throwaway
remark in this effort of “She is afraid of black” (although those who are
willing to thank goodness for small mercies will note that “at least” the
“n” word was not used in this instance) -- that still is prone to crop
up and threaten to ruin my Hong Kong movie viewing experience.
For better or worse, the above mentioned issues
actually irked me much more after I spent time ruminating about them than
over the course of my viewing the memorably as well as descriptively titled
DUMMY MOMMY WITHOUT A BABY. Part of the reason for this is that they
really didn’t have all that much to do with the movie itself (whose plot
centers on a woman who fakes being pregnant after learning of a new government
ruling that forbade employers from sacking their expecting employees for
ten months). Another is that this (re)viewer found herself devoting
more thought than she had expected to on trying to decide whether this
film with the novel premise -- that threatened early on to turn out to
be not much more than a one joke work -- could be generally considered
funny; what with the Brilliant Idea Group production that unexpectedly
outgrossed Jet Li’s “The One” at the HKSAR box office in the first week
that they were released in the former British Crown Colony having certain
sections that really did cause me to laugh out loud but there being long
stretches in between these during which I don’t think that I cracked even
a single, small smile.
To some extent, it made sense that DUMMY MOMMY
WITHOUT A BABY couldn’t be laughter-inducing right from the get go on account
of certain events needing to occur to cause the effort’s lead character
(L.K. Fong -- who actually isn’t the world’s worst worker -- is played
by Miriam Yeung) to be moved to come up with the desperate plan that she
did to ensure that her budding career in advertising would not be brought
to a sudden halt. Also, while it is true that many of the film’s
plot developments -- notably that which involved L.K. being unable to hide
the truth about her “pregnancy” forever -- were too predictable in nature,
some others -- including that which pertains to the nature of her relationship
with her boss (Edison Chen is surprisingly charming as the younger Mr.
Wu) -- are less so. Indeed, there were certain ones -- such as those
which had L.K. feeling a need to take lessons re how to act pregnant and
interview other women about what pregnancy honestly felt like along with
that which brought a real pregnant female character into the picture (and
had her in the strong financial position that she was) -- that seem downright
inspired.
Nonetheless, I don’t think that -- if the question
were put to them -- scriptwriters Joe Ma (who also co-directed this movie
with Mak Kai Gwong and co-produced it with Ivy Kong), Chang Wing Sun and
Taures Chow would deny that much of DUMMY MOMMY WITHOUT A BABY is mere
padding for an otherwise thin story. And should anyone who has already
viewed this work wonder, I am most definitely not only referring to the
cameo appearances made by the likes of Chor Yuen (as a sad tea shop owner
who looks to have more pregnant employees than he has customers), Cheung
Tat Ming (as an overly theoretical acting instructor) and Moses Chan (as
a big bellied lawyer). Rather, it also generally felt rather unnecessary
for L.K. to have all that many (platonic male) friends (a couple of whom
were played by Wyman Wong and Samuel Leung) -- other than to show that
so much (deceit) seems to be achievable if you have chums who are willing
to lie for you -- as well as a bitchy superior/rival who, to add insult
to injury, proved to be pretty toothless (through no fault of the actress
who played her, Pauline Yam).
Perhaps the brains behind this movie thought that,
what with DUMMY MOMMY WITHOUT A BABY being the first work in which the
Cantopop singer-actress -- whose career may well be headed in the same
direction as that of Sammi Cheng’s -- had a starring role, Miriam Yeung
could not be expected to carry an entire film (and thus had to be surrounded
by more experienced actors as well as fellow fresh faced personalities).
Whatever the reason for it being so, I am glad that Hui Siu Hung had a
part to play in this effort (as Edison Chen’s character’s boxing enthusiast
father); this not least since the running gag that involved the elder Mr.
Wu believing that L.K.’s good friend, Dina (who was played by Niki Chow)
was his son’s single pregnant employee was one which did serve up some
of this offering’s more humorous moments.
My rating for the film: 5.5
Reviewed by Brian
I rather enjoyed this rambunctious if far from
cutting edge family comedy. It has the feel more of a TV sitcom than a
theatrical film with Miriam Yeung and Niki Chow taking on roles that would
have felt at home on a I Love Lucy episode. Interesting that YTSL
compared Miriam to Sammi Cheng because her comic delivery and speaking
voice reminded me constantly of Sammi’s. She doesn’t have quite the charisma
or the looks of Sammi – and perhaps for that reason romance doesn’t play
much of a role here – but I thought she brought a fun “average” working
woman persona to the film. Not at all glamorous or marriage minded
- she just wants to keep her job and things start getting out of control
in a warped logical kind of way.
Another aspect of the film that appealed to me
was the staunch and loyal friendship between Miriam and Niki – always protecting
the others back in the dirty world of office politics. This must
be the third or fourth film recently that Niki has popped in on and I have
to admit to finding her quite attractive and a welcome presence. Hopefully
she can continue to get larger roles as time goes by.
My rating for this film: 6.5