2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Chow Yun-Fat in a interesting Comedy, June 11, 2005
This review is from: 100 Ways to Murder Your Wife (DVD)
1986 Hong Kong Comedy Film (something of a romantic comedy). Also Known as "Shaqi Errenzu."
DVD Features: The DVD contains the film (in Cantonese or Mandarin and with subtitles in: Traditional Chinese; Simplified Chinese; Japanese; Korean; Nil; or English), the film trailer (in Chinese), and 2 other trailers (The Fun, The Luck & The Tycoon; The Seventh Curse).
Credits: The movie stars Chow Yun-Fat (Football Fa; "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" "Killer"), Joey Wong ("Miss Malaysia Wang Hsiao Hsien"; "Shanghai Story"), Kenny Bee (Roberto; "Initial D"), Anthony Chan (Chen Chih-Tao; "Hero of the Beggars"), and Anita Mui (Fang; "July Rhapsody"). The movie is directed by Kenny Bee.
Plot: Two men, drunk and filled with frustration with their marriage, arrange elaborate methods for their wives to die. Later, sober, they regret their actions. It's the Hitchcock "Stranger's on a train" plot, but this time in Chinese, without the train, and played for laughs.
Review: I hadn't seen Chow Yun-Fat in an Asian comedy, so I was interested in seeing in something other than drama/action/adventure Asian films, or US films (right, should mention that I like Chow Yun-Fat as an actor)/.
Oddly enough, the movie opens up on a soccer match (otherwise known as football), specifically the final Governor's Cup game (the film starts with the score tied 4-4 and in double overtime; note: don't try to watch a sports movie and read subtitles at the same time, quite annoying). Unless I'm mistaken, the two main characters, including a very young looking Chow Yun-Fat are playing a soccer players (I believe they are "Roberto" and "Brother Fa" or "Football Fa" depending on the speaker). Football Fa is suspicious of his wife and overhears a tiny bit of conversation that suggests that his wife might want him killed (the wife was joking around, not serious; other than being suspicious of his wife, both for murderous intentions and possible sleeping around, his wife seems nicer to him than Roberto's wife is to Roberto). Roberto's wife constantly complains and nags him (actually the neighbors seem to like to join in on the nagging, how fun). Thus the "reason" is somewhat set for the two men to come together, get drunk, and set up elaborate plans to have their wives killed. Of course, the real humor begins when the men try to kill the other's wife (don't want to reveal too much, but it is mostly one egging on the other to kill his (the one egging on the other) wife, and that other man trying to try various methods to kill the wife).
The movie is interesting, but, as a "comedy" it is hard to find it funny through subtitles (though, if you try, you can find some of the word play funny), so the humor mostly has to come through other means (situations, physical actions of the actors, etc.). Situational, word play, misunderstandings humor, physical humor, are all included in the film, and all have some funny moments (like Roberto driving too fast and almost running down some police officers; or the drunk Roberto washing his hair with shaving cream in the urinal; and Roberto's wife trying to cook a live rooster for hen soup . . . ). The is actually a lot better than I expected, and quite humorous. The acting is hard to determine, since I do not understand the language, but seems good. Overall, I would give the movie 4.05 stars.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny underrated movie!!!!!!, May 2, 2002
Ok, they don't really think of 100 ways, just a dozen or so. But don't worry, no one gets killed at all. If you only thought Chow Yun-fat can act only in action movies, you're missing out on some of his best comedies. This is definitely one of them. Anita Mui is really funny as a nagging wife and Joey Wang is prettier than ever. This would be great for a family night when you're bored or just having a bad day. This is pure comedy, from beginning to end. I have it on video and this is one of my favorite and funniest Chow Yun-fat movies.
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