Love Undercover I,
Genre: Comedy, Romance.
Date: 2002
Parts: 1
Language: Chinese
Subtitle: English
Synopsis: The suddenly bankable Miriam Yeung stars in Love Undercover, her third film with director Joe Ma and her second based on an older Hong Kong film. Yeung is Kuen, a rookie cop who flunked every single important test as a cadet. However, Hong Kong needs cops so she graduates anyway. Sentenced to the Lost Property Department, Kuen can only gossip with her co-workers and lust after hunk cop Hung (Raymond Wong Ho-Yin). However, Kuen gets her chance pretty quick. The Serious Crime Unit picks her for minor undercover work because she has no family, boyfriend or dog, and wouldn’t be missed if the target decides to off her. She’s assigned to bug suspected triad guy Hoi (Daniel Wu), but thanks to nutty situation comedy circumstances she ends up catching his eye. Hoi decides to pursue Kuen, and the Serious Crime Unit couldn’t be happier. Led by Officer Chung (Hui Siu-Hung) and previously-mentioned hunk Hung, the cops go about setting up an elaborate cover for Kuen. They plan to keep her close to Hoi in hopes of discovering his evil plans. That is, if he even has any. Why anyone would suspect Hoi is beyond me, because he’s played by Daniel Wu as an affable, decent fellow who only happened to be born into a [retired] triad family. It’s hard to believe the Serious Crime Unit would waste lots of money to investigate Hoi, much less use a rookie cop to handle serious undercover work. Kuen shouldn’t even be a cop; she’s petulant, whiny, and generally unpredictable and silly. Kuen’s personality shouldn’t be a surprise, however, as it’s the exact same character Miriam Yeung has played in her last three pictures. That said, she does it extremely well so we should all clap happily. Most of the film’s unsubtle joys come from Yeung’s deadpan, nonsensical ways of dealing with whatever problems arise. In reality, her character would probably be expelled from the force and cited for obstruction of justice, but it’s hard not to like Yeung’s nutty antics. Yeung is still a remarkably raw actress, but she’s a charming performer and a more-than-competent lead actress. The film itself doesn’t do anything new. Kuen eventually starts to fall for Hoi, but must decide whether she can continue to lie to him. Meanwhile, the cops aren’t so sure she’s the right choice anymore because of that pesky conflict of interest thing. These are your standard cop-goes-undercover clichés, but this movie shouldn’t be seen for it’s witty, creative narrative or white-knuckle thrills (of which it has none). This is simply an amiable little trifle that amuses without insulting, which is a welcome cinematic feat nowadays. Joe Ma’s films have varied in quality, but Love Undercover manages to be better than his previous two comedies (Fighting for Love and Dummy Mommy without a Baby). The supporting cast is uniformly amusing, with Ma regulars Wyman Wong and Joe Lee providing especially funny turns. The suddenly-everywhere Daniel Wu hasn’t really proven himself as a comic talent, but he’s a good straight man with a likable screen presence. Still, Love Undercover is primarily a showcase for Miriam Yeung. While not as good an overall actress as Gigi Leung or Cecilia Cheung, she’s arguably a better comedy lead than either. Yeung’s movies have been surprisingly successful too, which is something that can only be applauded. Hong Kong movies need to make money or this website will no longer have anything to talk about. If Miriam Yeung can bring box office success (and can avoid working with Wong Jing), then I heartily endorse her efforts. Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Daniel Wu, Iris Wong Yat-Tung, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin, Yau Kei-Man, Wyman Wong Wai-Man, Sammy, Hyper BB, Eileen Cha Siu-Yan, Hui Siu-Hung, Ng Chi-Hung, Wilson Yip Wai-Shun, Lee Siu-Kei, Matt Chow Hoi-Kwong, Alan Mak Siu-Fai, Joe Lee Yiu-Ming, Wong Yat-Ming, Chow Chung
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