Hei ma wang zi

Hong Kong's film industry is in the doldrums, yet Wong Jing's movies continue to be box office hits. Prince Charming is an improbable romance that stars Andy Lau, playing an unemployed guy hanging out on the fringes of society. He lives in a rundown building with his foul-mouthed mother and a friend. This friend just split with his long time girlfriend, nicknamed Tart. Andy Lau's girlfriend has just dumped him for a record producer who offers her a job in Taiwan. Then there is a thug nicknamed "Fatty" who is trying to get back the money he loaned Lau's friend.

Into this mess comes "Ice," the nickname of the character the very pretty Michelle Reis plays. She is trying to find her mother, who stayed in Hong Kong when her father went to Shanghai many years earlier. "Ice" grew up with her father, who is now rich. She ends up using Lau's mother as a guide to help her with the search in the HK's Mongkok district. At the same time, a gang is trying to kidnap her to get ransom money from "Ice's" father.

There are plenty of ups and down in the story. Wong Jing, who is the writer/director of this action/romance, keeps the action moving. If you want a guided tour of Hong Kong, and a chance to see a pretty good movie without much objectionable violence, "Prince Charming" is right up your line.

This movie, that I caught only on an airplane and haven't seen elsewhere is a lovely little movie, of the old boy-meets-girl variety with plenty of Hong Kong action and some foul-mouthed humor thrown in. While that sounds strange, it makes for a fun movie - romantic enough for women and bitingly humorous enough for men, with all those wonderful chase scenes too.