Mei li mut ling

"Beauty on Duty" (aka "Mei Lai Muk Ling") is a fairly average comedy in the likes of those that were spewed out in the time from the mid 1990's to the mid 2000's from the Hong Kong cinema. And sadly, it doesn't really bring much improvement. If you are vaguely familiar with the movies of this particular genre, and have seen your share back in the day, then you know exactly what you get here.

That being said, I am not saying that "Beauty on Duty" is a bad movie, far from it. It is actually entertaining in its own right. The characters are colorful, vibrant, and have lots of varied personalities, and the various actors hired for the various roles were doing good jobs with their characters. And the storyline was campy, silly, goofy and predictable - as they all are in this genre - but it works out well enough.

I must point out that Charlene Choi is actually more than just a pretty face. She has become rather diverse and good at acting in the various roles of movies that she has been in. And it is only since around 2009 or 2010 that I started to like her movies, as I was having some reluctances earlier, because she wasn't as impressive when she was younger. In "Beauty on Duty" then Sandra Ng Kwan Yue can be quite a mouthful, and you will either enjoy or loathe her style of over-acting. Personally, I didn't care all that much for it, as I found it to be a bit too theatrical compared to the acting from the rest of the crew.

The storyline in "Beauty on Duty" is about getting a criminal named Fatty to spill his guts and loosen his tongue. In order to do so, a young, new recruit have to go undercover in an Asian beauty pageant and befriend Fatty's daughter. And of course, there will be a handful of obstacles along the way to overcome.

Right, the storyline is straight out of the 'Movies for Dummies' book, as it is generic and straight forward. And as I said earlier, there isn't anything new or innovative to be seen in the movie.

I was thoroughly entertained by this movie, as I enjoyed Hong Kong cinema in all its diversity. The movie is fun and campy in all the right places. If you enjoyed "Miss Congeniality" and if you like Asian cinema, then you will most definitely enjoy "Beauty on Duty".

This movie's a throwback to the "mo lei tau" (brainless) comedies of the 80's and early 90's, and stars probably the queen of them, Sandra Ng. Though she has since turned out many strong dramatic performances - including her Hong Kong Film Award-winning role in Portland Street Blues, she still churns out these schlocky features regularly, I guess because she has a strong fan base with them (I'm definitely part of that fan base).

That said, I was quite disappointed with this feature. Most of the jokes fell flat and in this day and age and even in Hong Kong, the gay stereotypes perpetuated in this movie were offensively over-the-top (and worse, not funny). I like the other lead actress, Charlene Choi (of the singing duo Twins), but her insouciant acting style always borders on amateurish and it takes a better movie than this to pull it off. The other actors were either bad or forgettable, save for the veteran old actor whose name I don't know - he plays Choi's father. I reckon being able to handle a "mo lei tau" role takes a lot more skill than it seems - it really is more than just overacting.