Reviewed by: ewaffle Date: 02/10/2008 “Prince Charming” has the ingredients contained in most romantic comedies: double entendre, mistaken identity, switching identities, some sexual tension (not very much in this case) with hints there might be more going on than is shown. There are a few funny bits, particularly when May’s sister is preparing her for the first date with the man she thinks is a triad soldier. Elaine Kam goes through all the moves that Cherie Chung can expect during the movie and shows her the countermoves, giving them the kind of names and very specific actions—“Seven Seas”, “Claw” “Eagle Stretch”—that one would see in a period martial arts movie, culminating in showing her the ultimate weapon, a brassiere made of metal with spikes protruding from it. At the same time Nat Chan is showing Kenny Bee a completely different way to get his hands where they don’t belong by dumping an ice cream cone in her lap and then wiping it up. It seems very odd for a bit when one realizes that the actors are playing men and women in their twenties or thirties acting like very young teenagers but simply going along with the sniggering prurience typical of Hong Kong movies of the period dealing with sex makes it work. The entertainment value of “Prince Charming isn’t in the plot or characters but in the actors themselves, particularly seeing Maggie Cheung in her first feature and Cherie Chung still quite early in her career. Maggie was still quite raw—and still had her chubby cheeks—and her fans are thankful that producers, directors and others charged with casting HK movies in the middle 1980s saw the huge upside of her talent. The only interesting character was the seductive enchantress Yun Piao Piao, perfectly portrayed by Rosamund Kwan. Brought in by Chen Pi Hou—the reliably slimy Charlie Cho—to help him cover up his embezzling from the company, she soon realizes that life would be simpler without him. While continuing to enchant the gullible Chen Li Pen she casually throws her erstwhile accomplice to the sharks. Even though her plan to marry a wealthy and unsophisticated young man falls through, one gets the sense at the end of the movie that Yun will be just fine. Based on his roving eye, her next conquest might be quite near, Chen Li Pin’s father. Set design in romantic comedies, especially the very fluffy ones, seems to favor the gargantuan and this is no exception with offices the size of factories, hotel rooms as large as conference rooms and apartments with twenty foot ceilings. The cinematography is routine, the script jejune and the jokes have more misses than hits but the three leading ladies are reason enough to keep one’s thumb away from the fast forward button Reviewer Score: 5

Reviewed by: Gaijin84 Date: 07/22/2007 Summary: Sex slapstick and Maggie Cheung's debut ... Prince Charming is a silly romantic comedy from Wong Jing featuring the screen debut of the legendary Maggie Cheung. A year after her second place finish in the Miss Hong Kong contest, Cheung was cast as Kitty, one of the women being pursued by Chen Li Pen (Kenny Bee) and Lolanto (Nat Chan). Chen Li is the son of an enormously wealthy Hong Kong businessman and is vacationing in Hawaii, experiencing typical girl problems. His lothario friend Lolanto flies in from Hong Kong and is determined to find Chen Li a girl within a few days. On the beach, they happen upon Kitty and and May Yu (Cherie Chung) who coincidentally are their next door neighbors in their hotel as well. After a series of hijinks, Chen Li and Lolanto are back in Hong Kong and investigating high-level embezzling in Chen's father's corporation. It also turns out that Kitty and May are employed there as well, with Kitty being the secretary of the supposed embezzler. Because Chen has been notoriously inconspicuous and no one knows what he looks like, he is able to assume to role of a limousine driver for Lolanto, who takes on the persona of Chen Li himself. While tracking down the corruption, Lolanto and Chen also are trying to win the hearts of the two women, but are they looking for true love or only money? Like most Wong Jing movies, Prince Charming has some sex humor, unlikely plot twists and slapstick scenarios, but it's all in good fun. Kenny Bee is a bit nebbish in his role as the love-jinxed Chen, but Nat Chan makes up for it with his second turn as Lolanto (the first being in Hong Kong Playboys). He reprised the role in the Wong Jing helmed I Love Lolanto a few months later in 1984. Maggie and Cherie Chung are cute and harmless in their roles, but not much is expected from their characters. Don't expect more from this other than a few humorous scenes and the debut of the fresh-faced Maggie Cheung. 6/10 Reviewer Score: 6

Reviewed by: hktopten Date: 12/21/1999 I can't seem to recall a lot of the film except like Kenny setMaggie up to be stranded on an "island" with him. Much better Wong Jing stuff than Tricky Business.