Reviewed by: Hyomil Date: 04/07/2011 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 08/12/2007 “Looking for Mr. Perfect” is a goofy comedy, as insubstantial as the outfits worn by its female leads. Isabelle Chan is Joey a model on a photo shoot taking place in a palatial resort in Malaysia. She is accompanied by her best friend, Grace,(Shu Qi) who is taking a few weeks off because of a different type of shoot—she is a Hong Kong police officer who has had enough close calls with armed criminals that they appear regularly in her dreams. Also at the resort are a team of criminals led by Simon Yam who are trying to purchase a missile tracking system and the software to run it plus a brace of secret agents who are staking out the resort trying to find the system. On the periphery are two very diligent suitors vying for Grace’s hand, a small time informer who has attached himself to Grace and who appears in the oddest places, an outrageously gay photographer and a libidinous agent with a suspicious wife. It is a lovely summer comedy—pretty actresses in shorts and T-shirts, Simon Yam trying to steal ever scene he is in, occasionally being upstaged by his costumes, a quasi martial arts ending in which the combatants use almost every environmental prop they can lay their hands on, including fruit, (but not the spiked durian, the cluster bomb unit of fruit weaponry) a broom, a bamboo window shade, a life preserver and a lot of flower pots. Nothing is ever too serious—two people are kidnapped and threatened with death but manage to fall in love during their ordeal, which doesn’t seem that odious. The missile tracking system, which looks like a shop floor computer for production control, is the perfect MacGuffin. Everyone is after it but everyone forgets about it when something more interesting, such as Ruby Wong in a purple bustier or Hui Siu-Hung on a jet ski. Worth seeing not only for the laughs but also to pick out the references to other movies that seem to pop up every ninety seconds or so.

Reviewed by: pjshimmer Date: 10/24/2003 Summary: Excellent movie Fun, entertaining, and innovative. Just about the best movie I've seen from 2003. [8/10]

Reviewed by: JohnR Date: 09/25/2003 Summary: Not Perfect But Worth Watching This action comedy never takes itself seriously, but sometimes I wished it would have shown a little more self-respect. Looking For Mr. Perfect is an action-parody married to a romance. The romance element fails, though, because of lazy writing. Hsu Chi anchors as policewoman Grace, on vacation to Malaysia (it appears the Malaysian tourism bureau was in charge of the location shooting) with her best friend Joey (Isabel Chan). She and Andy On, her love interest in the movie, play their roles straight and are surrounded by a whirling cloud of wackos. Basic plot: bad guy Poon (Simon Yam) is trying to sell a missile guidance system. Andy On and his boss, Chapman To, have been hired by someone (we're never told who) to stop him. They think Grace and Joey are involved and begin surveillance. Meanwhile, Grace is being competed for by two suitors while she herself is pursuing the man of her dreams, along with material-girl Joey, a Machiavellian field marshal in the War of the Sexes. It's not much but it's enough. Simon Yam does a parody of the psycho killer role he played in Full Contact (also directed by Ringo Lam). You can see his acting experience come into play as he pushes it to the limit without going totally overboard. Very well done. Ruby Wong is entertaining as his sidekick, reminiscent of the role of Virgin in Full Contact. And speaking of maturity, Hsu Chi's comes through. This certainly wasn't the most challenging role she's ever done, but she does it well and without any of the quirks that flawed some of her earlier roles. She continues to impress me. I just wish they would have given her more to work with. The action scenes are good, though this isn't the Jackie Chan Stunt Team. More like Tokyo Raiders, but it's much better than you'd expect from a movie of this type. And funny - the parody is very much in-your-face, no subtle jabs. This movie has a lot going for it, not the least being Isabel Chan's scene-stealing performance as Joey and the excellent production values, but the parts don't add up to a satisfactory whole. It all just suddenly stops (as if they plan a sequel) and you're left not caring what happens to any of the characters. If they do make a follow up - and there's no need to - I suggest the writers don't knock off early and get rid of the petty thief character Crab, who's just annoying and doesn't contribute. As far as this one, 7.5 out of 10. Decent entertainment that could have been classic if they'd have just put a little more work into it.

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/18/2003 Boy, what a departure for Ringo Lam. Who would have thought the director behind films like City on Fire and Full Contact would be doing a Hsu Chi romantic comedy? But if the results here are any indication, I would much rather have Lam go in this direction, rather than continuing to crank out straight-to-video junk with Van Damme. The plot has Hsu Chi as a cop who is unlucky in love (in a nod to how much her career has changed from her softcore porn days, her virginity is mentioned several times) who travels to Malaysia with her friend (Isabel Chan). The hotel they're staying at is home to a group of strange characters. One of them (Andy On) catches Hsu's eye, but things turn sour when she finds out that he's actually some sort of agent trying to get a valuable computer system from a goofy gangster played by Simon Yam. Eventually, they patch things up enough to team up to get the system and begin a romance. Normally, this wouldn't really be my type of movie -- romantic comedies make me retch -- but Looking for Mister Perfect never takes itself seriously. There's none of the pretense or the self-importance that usually plague the genre. For instance, there's never a big scene where Andy and Hsu run toward each other on the beach in slow-motion while some crappy ballad plays or some such nonsense. I will grant that there were times when the movie does get a bit cute for its' own good (most notably a gag towards the end that uses talking flowers), but for the most part, the characters are personable and the jokes are amusing, which is all you really want in a movie like this. Well, okay, there was no gratuitous nudity, but Looking for Mister Perfect is a good enough film that it doesn't need to pump up its' "production value" using gimmicks like that. It doesn't hurt that there's heaping doses of action in here as well. It reminded me a lot of Jackie Chan's work from the early to mid-1980's, right down to the sound effects. Again, the antics go a bit overboard in spots, but for the most part, it's good stuff, and pretty unique in this day and age of "computer-fu". I especially enjoyed Simon Yam's fight scenes, which combined dancing and fighting into some of the best action you're likely to see this year. Like the classic films from Hong Kong's "golden age", Looking for Mister Perfect mashes together a whole bunch of genres and manges to create a coherent and entertaining movie. It's certainly not the best film I've ever seen, but if you're looking for some good mindless fun, you could do much worse. At the least, it has a fast and breezy attitude that helps make this a romantic comedy even the most macho guys will enjoy. Note: the movie was actually filmed in 2001, but was shelved because executives thought that Black Mask 2: City of Masks would be a better introduction to HK audiences for Andy On. Of course, that movie bombed and this one didn't fare much better since it came out during the SARS crisis, when movie attendance dropped off dramatically.

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 08/18/2003 Summary: Ok-ish I was bored watching this. Ok there was a few laughs, the action is actually pretty good. Then end fight with simon Yam and Andy On is something out of jackie chans best work!! Apart from that, nothing to recommend. Worth watching, only for the end scenes!! 5/10

Reviewed by: magic-8 Date: 08/08/2003 Summary: Breezy Fun "Looking for Mr. Perfect" is a light and breezy romantic-comedy from Ringo Lam. Lam hasn't directly such fluff since his start in Hong Kong cinema with such romantic works as "The Other Side of Gentleman" and "Esprit D'amour." The plot is typical of television sitcoms and Hong Kong cinema comedies, with a bit of martial arts thrown in for good measure. Even more surprising is that the film was written and directed by Lam and produced by Johnnie To. To Lam's credit, he didn't go with all-out goofiness. He used just enough restraint to keep things interesting. Hsu Chi and Andy On play the romantic leads, while Simon Yam and Ruby Wong play the adversaries. Basically, the plot is about Hsu Chi and friend's trip to Malaysia (the film could be used as a tourism promotion for Malaysia, as the scenery was beautifully photographed), where they are mistaken for thieves. Andy On does a good job as the typical good-looking male lead with little range. Simon Yam hams it up and takes the soptlight with a very campy performance as the thief, while his partner Ruby Wong has only a couple of lines of dialogue, but is ever ready to throw a fist or kick. All of this makes for a few smiles and a pleasant way to wile away the time.

Reviewed by: danton Date: 07/03/2003 I watched this film expecting very little, and was very pleasantly surprised: What a fun film! I haven't seen an energetic, funny genre mix with such an "anything goes" spirit coming out of HK in years! Instead of delivering another predictable romance comedy, Ringo Lam manages to effectively combine comedy and action into a 90 minute thrill-ride that feels like a throwback to the kind of films HK was so good at producing over a decade ago. The movie goes from low-brow comedy to exhilarating action to sappy romance at a moment's notice, and everyone involved seemed to have lots of fun during the shoot, judging by the energetic vibe and on screen chemistry. The plot is a mix of formulaic genre conventions: Shu Qi plays a HK detective who tries to escape two bumbling suitors by accompanying her female friend to an advertising shoot in Thailand. Soon both of them find themselves warding off lusty producers, and other assorted characters, while also becoming entangled in a crime caper that involves Simon Yam and Ruby Wong as two charismatic criminals and Andy On as the straightforward cop on pursuit. None of this makes much sense, and there's lots of screwball comedy, farce and typical Wong Jing type shenanigans going on, but the movie takes none of it too seriously, and furthermore, there's great action setpieces! I haven't enjoyed HK action this much in a while. Great setpieces that are imaginatively staged and choreographed, and yes, there's even martial arts involved! This is the type of film that Jackie Chan used to excel at, or going back even further, the kind of genre pioneered in the Aces Go Places series (which, incidentally, also featured Ringo Lam at the helm for one of the instalments). Known more for his grittier, darker movies, Ringo Lam proves that he has a knack for comedy with this movie. But he doesn't neglect the adrenaline factor either: the final action setpiece starts out with a car/motorcycle chase and ends on a dock with hands to hand combat involving, among other things, an assortment of fruit. Have I already mentioned how much I enjoyed this movie? Definitely recommended!

Reviewed by: AV1979 Date: 06/06/2003 Summary: Cute Romantic Actioner I know there are going to be some that disagree with me, but this film is cute. Shu Qi is adorable and the end fight, between Andy On and Simon Yam (looking a little too eccentric) is just so Jackie Chan-esque but fun. Andy On really did well in the fights here, a lot better than in Black Mask 2. Nice chemistry between On and Shu. Cute. 7/10