Chung Mou Yim

Another gender bending three girl Chinese kung fu movie, this time played for laughs. Anita Mui mugs incessantly for the camera, Sammi Cheng wanders around not getting the joke, and Cecilia Cheung is nice to look at. Slow in parts but a reasonably amusing way to spend a couple of hours if you're feeling out of sorts. Apparently a quickie Chinese New Year effort that has the production values of a high school skit.

The laughs swirl around strong performances by Anita Mui, Sammi Cheng, and Cecilia Cheung.

Anita Mui plays the Emperor Qi(yes, that's Emperor), a lecherous, weak, cowardly fool whose destiny is to marry the infallibly virtuous Chung Mu Yen, played by Sammi Cheng. Of course things aren't that easy because a mischievous, but innocent Fox Spirit (translated in the subtitles as Enchantress), played by Cecilia Cheung, has fallen in love with Mu Yen instead.

The Fox Spirit curses Mu Yen by placing a large mark on her face, hoping the shallow Emperor's rejection of her will drive Mu Yen to love him instead. When that doesn't work, he turns himself into a beautiful woman to seduce the all-too-willing Emperor and drive Mu Yen away.

There really isn't a good reason why Anita Mui, as opposed to a male lead, was cast as the male Emperor, but somehow it works. She also plays the Emperor's Great Great Great Great Great Ancestor, the royal family's incompetent guardian spirit.

Adding to the fun are the Emperor's four flustered advisors, who record his mishaps in grand prose (a la Robin's Minstrels from Monty Python and the Holy Grail), and this film's low budget production.

A few of the script's lightning fast puns eluded the subtitlers and will elude a non-Canto audience. but there's more than enough fun energy in this film to make it worth seeing.

A classic story is retold and the result is at once delightful and hilarious. Reliable veteran actress Anita Mui plays the king of the Qi kingdom in a gender bender and revels in her role in providing most of the comic moments in the movie. Sammi Cheng plays the female warrior Chung Wu Yen, who is bound by destiny to fall in love with the king. Cecelia Cheung plays a fox spirit who is in love with both Wu Yen and the king, depending on which gender it takes when it is in human form. At the start of the movie, the fox spirit puts a curse on Wu Yen that causes her to be ugly as long as she is in love with the king. Wu Yen thus falls out of favour with the lusty king, who takes to the female form of the fox spirit. However, each time the king gets into trouble with other kingdoms, he goes to Wu Yen begging her to use her superior martial arts and military tactics to save him. It is absolutely brilliant of the plot that due to various circumstances, each of these three female leads play both the male and female roles through the course of the movie. Like many Hongkong period comedies, this one has plenty of modern day objects thrown in to hilarious effect. The king's four advisers provide plenty of comic relief as well, making the movie a bubbly affair. At times this movie is even slightly touching as it explores the ideas of love, loyalty and beauty in a couple of poignant moments. Anita Mui proves once again her natural prowess at doing comedy, while Sammi Cheng and Cecelia Cheung put in more than credible performances. This movie might be a bit long but it never ceases to entertain. At least 3 and a half stars out of five.

Bizarre doesn't even begin to describe this film, nor does off-beat. A shallow emperor, a determined warrior princess and one very foxy women who keeps switching back and forth like a ping-pong ball.

But to be honest, it is a funny little film in every sense of the word I confess, this was the very first time I'd ever seen Cecilia Cheung, Sammi Cheng or Anita Mui in a film but I have to say the sillier it got, the more it grew on me. Special mention should be given to Mui who has her hands full with role playing and the same goes for Cecilia Cheung. And even if it teeming with divas, this twisted tale has a truly off-beat charm and in this case, a little charm goes a long way-- at least far enough to keep you with it to find out where it will go next.

Lets be honest here, this movie is silly in all senses of the word. The plot changes sporadically and the shallow emperor Qi's antics may well be unrealistic.

However, all that somehow disappears from the mind when watching it, sure its a strange film and not one loaded with realistic actions, but overall it portrays a comic little tale of the rather pathetic and unfaithful Emperor, the obvious heroine, and the conflicted, cunning yet still appealing fox fairy played by Cecilia Cheung. It won't appeal to all audiences, but as an eastern comic "drama" it will leave a mark - and I couldn't help liking it. Silly is not equivalent to bad, leave your insistence for realism and accuracy at the door and you will like it as well.