Writer: Ezekiel Lee Zhiang Yang

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Watch this if you liked: "Infernal Affairs"

Many interviews with the titular Laughing Gor, Michael Tse Tin Wah points towards an immense feeling of thankfulness that his popular role in the TVB series "Emergency Unit" has had the screen power to spawn a spin-off feature film on its own. Rushed and readied so soon after the character's demise on the original TV series, the Herman Yau movie we're watching is not as gritty as one would've liked but still makes great viewing.

After starting out as a talented dancer and going 20 years playing two-bit sideshows in TV soaps, Michael Tse comes good as the lead in "Laughing Gor", complimented by a get-together cast of well-respected old hands like Anthony Wong, Felix Wong, Eric Tsang and Francis Ng. We follow the story of a "double undercover" - a man who's a mole on the police force and also a mole on the triad scene! This unusual position doesn't generate as much character struggle as it ought to but forms a great premise for the great cast to muck about.

We have two intense performances from Anthony Wong and Francis Ng as rival triad bosses who both seem to have Laughing Gor's best interests at heart. The former is in Boy George getup to achieve some sort of goth gangster persona while the latter goes for a militaristic Jordan Chan-Streetfighter Guile ensemble with cargo pants and silly hair. Talking about mobsters with makeup, it's worrying that Daniel Wu had to do something similar in "Shinjuku Incident". Blame Batman's Joker for this trend? Nevertheless the lot of them have too much fun playing their roles and the only complaint one can think of must be Fala Chen as Laughing Gor's chick who's torn between a gangster brother and a gangster lover. She's so unmemorable that Anthony Wong's feisty moll in the movie (this reviewer can't seem to find her name) might as well have gotten top female billing.

On the whole, "Laughing Gor" seems pretty wasted if you consider how it could've been CAT III stuff, like most of Herman Yau's movies. Also, it seems that Michael Tse is well upstaged by Francis Ng and Anthony Wong, although he does get whacked by plenty of empty bottles on the head and does get to bleed real blood for the no-stuntmen cause. Well, at least he doesn't need to play the low-ranked punk in "Young And Dangerous" anymore.

Watch "Laughing Gor" for its fantastic cast, not its story.


Cinema Online, 19 August 2009