MEN SUDDENLY IN LOVE DVD (2011)

SYNOPSIS: Five graduates come together to celebrate their teacher Master Jude's 80-year-old birthday. This includes York; Claude; Sam; Keith and Charlie. Master Jude is a bachelor who enlightened them on the matter of sex during their school days. However, during the celebration party, they encounter 5 pretty, sexy young models; the uninhibited Tina, the movie fan Audrey, the body-check adict Peril, the oft-possessed by spirits Jeanne and Eleven who is too eager to give up her viriginity. They fall for each other and have a love fest in the hotel. The five men group together to form "The Cheating Brigade" to continue their affairs with the five models. Their wives headed by Hillary with Sze, Nana, Ling Ling and Nancy also group together to catch them on the act. A 'espionage' war between husbands and wives ensues. Who will be the final victors- the husbands or the wives?

MOVIE REVIEW:

Wong Jing is 56 years old this year, but hey age hasn’t stopped the man from cuddling up to sweet young things. Especially not if he continues to make movies like this, the kind where some middle-aged men get hit on some impossibly hot women and get to indulge in their escapist fantasies. Yes, you should know the kind- after all, Wong Jing earned his infamous name in the Hong Kong film industry by making movies like this throughout his three-decade long career.

Not only does Wong Jing get to watch vicariously from behind the camera, this time he has decided to get some share of the action himself. So Wong gets acting credit here as well in addition to writing and directing, playing one of a quintet of married men who meet some young babes and proceed to find ways to cheat on their wives, only to face the consequences of their adulterous behaviour later on.

And that is basically the three-act structure of this brief 88-min movie- the first act has the men meeting the babes while bringing their former teacher Master Jude (Richard Ng) out on a vacation to get some action; the second has the men snogging with the girls post-vacation under the guise of honouring Master Jude’s dying wish (let’s just say his heart couldn’t take the heat from the ladies); and the third has them being caught by their wives and apologising for their philandering ways.

On the men’s side, there is Eric Tsang as a fiery legislator, Chapman To as a ‘feng shui’ master, Wong Jing as a doctor, Det Di Yee-Tat as a dance instructor and Jim Chim as a Cat-III movie actor. On the women’s, there’s reigning Hong Kong babe Chrissie Chau, and other unknown busty actresses Jessica Xu, Caroline Zhu, Betrsy Kong and Carol Yeung. And oh, there’s also TVB actress Maggie Cheung as Eric Tsang’s wife in the movie, a lawyer who spends too much time in her work and too little time with her husband in bed.

It’s amazing the parade of stars that Wong has managed to assemble for this piece of crap- and let’s not kid ourselves, it is essentially a crappy piece of cinema. There is practically no story nor any character development; the directing and editing are choppy and amateurish; and the script is all over the place, spoofing this and that movie whenever convenient (Lust, Caution counts as one of them as well). Need we mention about the acting, if there was even a need for any actor- or actress for that matter- to do so?

But hey you probably already knew that looking at the cover of this movie and spying Wong Jing’s name credited prominently. “Men Suddenly In Love” is basically Wong Jing indulging in his own fantasy about still getting it on with the young girls despite his advancing age, and if you think you want to live vicariously through his wish-fulfilment, there’s nothing more or less this review can say to discourage you. Otherwise, you have been warned

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

You can both the Mandarin and Cantonese audio track here, and no prizes for guessing which you should choose for maximum comedic impact- or whatever the movie is worth. Visuals are clean and colours are vibrant.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Gabriel Chong

Posted on 18 June 2011