Long xia jing cha

A squad of four police officers on an unwanted drug assignment are staking out a "logistics company". When the criminals become suspicious, they buy the restaurant they've been using for its toilet as a cover.... and are a runaway success as a restaurant in this startlingly gritty and funny cop comedy.

Most of the reason I find it so funny is I find its earnest, hapless and ultimately barely successful heroes so much like characters out of one of my favorite comic author's mind: Donald Westlake. Despite his having worked in Hollywood, few of his comic novels, some of them very cinematic, were ever successfully transferred to the screen, either because they decided to cast Robert Redford as a hapless New York schmuck (THE HOT ROCK), or they tried to shoot it on the cheap. Two of his screenplays became fine movies: Stephen Frear's neo-noir THE GRIFTERS and a personal favorite, HOT STUFF, about some cops who take over a fencing operation to run a massive sting.

Although Xinyun Li, the director of this movie, has her cops and bad guys a lot more competent than Westlake liked on the pages of his books, they are just as subject to the problems of not thinking things through and of not seeing their opportunities that us mortal human beings are likely to.... except, of course, when we're the audience, and the camera is pointing at the bad guy, we get to see who he is and howl at how dumb the cop is.... and when the bad guy lets the cop pull a triple cross on him, we howl in laughter again.

It's good to know that the people in charge can foul up, just the same as us. It makes us like them better. And it's also good to know that at least in movies like this, they're the good guys and get the bad guys.

When I watched this film to the middle of it, I've found out that my patience has dwindled less and less. The director and the screenplay writers seemed not be able to distinguish the thin line between "Comedy" and "Farce". When a script dramatized to an absurd level, a supposed to be potential comedy would be gradually turned into a ridiculous farce. The actors recruited to play the roles in this film all had to act so pretentiously with exaggerated facial expressions and body language in order to match what the screenplay crafted. So after about 30 to 40 minutes, it has become so tiresome to watch, since you have to watch all the actors in it, cops and bad guys all became clowns and jokers, they looked all the same, everybody just looked like loose cannons to over-the-top jerk themselves around, none of them believable and convincing enough to what they should be.

This film is a mess! A certified ridiculous "Farce" instead of a qualified "Comedy". The endless and non-stop jerk-around performances of all the actors would force you to watch along while distant yourself farther and farther until you became numb without any involvement of any feelings. Guys who considered this film funny and great must have their brain and I.Q. checked twice, some unknown damages might exist. Go check it out sooner than later.

Wang Qianyuan and the rest of the cast really shines in Lobster Cop, a movie that is both ridiculous and full of heart. But heart doesn't always make up for a subpar plot, and in essence the movie is like many other cop films in China we've seen over the years. Corny and predictable in the most inconvenient times. The most surprising aspect is the use of bright neon lights throughout the film that does give the movie a little extra flair and style. Also wished Shen Teng would have a bigger role, as his character is one the best.