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機Boy小子之真假威龍 (1992)
Game Kids


Reviewed by: dandan
Date: 03/08/2006
Summary: i haven't laughed this much in ages...

andy lau, a midget andy lau, rosamund kwan (swoon), aaron kwok, ng man tat, and sandra ng star in this zany comedy from gordan chan. i read the blurb for this film and figured that it looked really stupid, but potentially entertaining, and for hk$22 (dddhouse weekly cheap sale) i thought it would be worth a gamble.

i really loved this film.

andy lau plays a man with the brain of a child, who is mistaken for the new boss of hong kong's triads... balls, i'm not even going to bother trying to explain this.

just tell me; who doesn't want to see rosamund kwan with a gun in each hand, flying through the air on the back on an inflatable killer whale, with andy lau riding behind her throwing darts?

this is a stupid film, but it had me laughing like a bastard...


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 11/13/2005
Summary: 6/10 - great in parts, not in others

Andy Lau's Teamwork Productions created this unusual vehicle for him, where he has dual roles... as a retard and a midget! (apologies for the politically incorrect language).

When a Triad boss dies, he tells his underlings that he wants the business to go to his illegitimate son, a mafia don in Italy (midget Andy). Due to a mix-up at the airport, Andy 2 (who has a full-sized body but a child-sized mind) ends up being taken back to Hong Kong and put in charge of the largest Triad group there - a group in which a power struggle has been initiated by the Dai Lo's death. Andy's in mortal danger, when all he really wants to do is play with his toys. Luckily Aaron Kwok is on hand, as the Dai Lo's right hand man charged with protecting his son.

The film occasionally recalls Teamwork's SAVIOUR OF THE SOUL, in the erratic mix of action, drama and stupid comedy - but it doesn't have that film's exceptional production design and cinematography. There's a lot of goofiness, with Ng Man Tat and Sandra Ng hamming it up as one branch of the triad family, with Andy clowning along with them - whilst the rest of the cast mostly play it straight. Rosamund Kwan is the love-interest, and Yuen Wo Ping has a nice role as her father. I guess Danny Poon is the malevolent and power-hungry young Dai Lo who causes most of the strife.

This is the sort of film that Stephen Chiau would have turned into gold, but Andy Lau isn't as charismatic a comic - and though he's matured into a fine actor now, the same can't be said of him in 1992. Credit to him for playing two quite embarrassing parts in this film though, rather than relying on his cool & handsome persona (and hair).

The script is the sort of daft nonsense that Hong Kong practically invented, and there are some great moments, but others just made this viewer cringe. The subtitles on the Universe DVD are a poor translation (though not as bad as those for SAVIOUR), which probably kills a lot of the comedy for the non-Cantonese viewer. I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot more if I saw it when I first getting into Hong Kong cinema and watching a lot more of this sort of thing - I don't know why I passed it over at the time.

The film is not very action-heavy, but there's a few inspired scenes from Yuen Tak, master of the comic-book wirework style. Nothing that can match his insane work in BLACK PANTHER WARRIORS or DRAGON FROM RUSSIA though. Rosamund is obviously doubled for a lot of her action - a shame they didn't cast somebody who could do her own moves - but Andy seems to pull off some impressive stuff by himself. He's clearly doubled at times though.

GAMEBOY KIDS is definitely a fun film, but lacks that certain something that can make films from the era truly wonderful. It's a shame the film didn't focus on Midget Andy instead of Idiot Andy - his scenes were truly cool, but unfortunately too brief (not surprisingly, as it's a lot cheaper to film a full-grown man acting like a kid than being 4ft tall :p). Generally it's a film with some great scenes but spread out in a less-than-great whole. Entertaining enough to see once, at least :)

Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: Souxie
Date: 01/12/2003
Summary: not bad

This was sometimes really funny, sometimes so bad it made me cringe, but overall I enjoyed this and have watched it a few times since.
Andy Lau has two roles (sort of) as some kind of "boy" genius (yes, he's meant to be quite young) who gets mixed up with his other role, the head of a triad gang. Cue Ng Man-Tat, Rosamund Kwan and more trying to either protect him or bump him off. Very funny in parts... And Aaron Kwok was funny as always...
8/10

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: jfierro
Date: 12/21/1999

Not all that great, but not all that terrible. In a case of mistaken identity, immature boy genius Andy Lau becomes the new triad head. Loyal right hand man Aaron Kwok attempts to keep Andy out of trouble while those around him seek to kill him.


Reviewed by: leh
Date: 12/09/1999

Another of the dull comedies Lau seems to be confined to at themoment. In this one he plays an idiot who is mistaken for a gangster boss. Only interesting bit is when Lau convincingly plays a DWARF! (The idiot's twin brother, of course)


Reviewed by: spinali
Date: 12/08/1999
Summary: NULL

Andy Lau is incompetent in the role of a retard mistaken for his double, a midget triad boss! Aaron Kwok is his loyal, leather-jacketed, gun-toting bodyguard; Rosamund Kwan is a bodyguard for the bad guys, but eventually switches sides. The movie's sort of like Big, with bullets, and it's almost completely brainless, like Lau's character. Unusual fight scenes employing a basketball, an inflatable porpoise, and a makeshift see-saw.

(2/4)



[Reviewed by Steve Spinali]

Reviewer Score: 5