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Paul Fonoroff

Starring: Wong Cho-lam, Kate Tsui Tsz-shan, Race Wong Yuen-ling, J.J. Jia Xiaochen, Angela Yeung Wing  
Directed by: James Yuen Sai-sang  
Category: IIB (Cantonese)
The funniest character actor to emerge in Hong Kong these past few years is given his first  movie lead in Short of Love, and although the  film comes up short in just about every department, it's not Wong Cho-lam's fault.  He energetically delivers his  fast-talking shtick, but the material concocted by director-writer James Yuen Sai-sang  is so disjointed that it comes across like a  grab bag of skits in  need of pruning.  
The movie is divided into three chapters that, other than the star's presence, have almost nothing in common,  which the scriptwriters try to rectify by tacking on a preface and coda in a misguided attempt to  give the plot coherence. Thus, sex-addicted financial wizard Jack Lam (Wong)  finds himself involved with three women in circumstances  that seem parachuted in from different screenplays. 
Chapter one has him masquerading as a psychiatrist in a vain mission to seduce Christy/Christine (Race Wong),  one of whose split personalities teaches ballet by day while the other performs erotic dances at night. It's a cute premise ably performed, but    it seems more suited to a variety show. 
The same applies to the next episode, in which Lam impersonates a blind spa worker in order to get close to sexy-but-virginal masseuse Caca (J.J. Jia). Again, there are some genuinely screwball bits,  but taken as a whole  it is so insubstantial that it hardly seems worth the effort.
The final segment has him working in a food stall, the better to win over the proprietor, Scar Sandy (Kate Tsui Tsz Shan), a tough girl pining for her long-absent outlaw love. A spoof of A Moment of Romance, a 1990 box office hit scripted by  Yuen, employs Wong's anti-idol persona to spiritedly demolish one of Andy Lau Tak-wah's  most iconic roles. 
Still, it's just one moment in a movie  lacking cohesion,  plot and character development. The two constants in Lam's disjointed life, apart from a disregard for women  and cruelty towards fat ladies in particular, are perky assistant Connie (Ella Koon Yan-na)  and Angel (Angela Yeung, above with Wong, better known as Angelababy),  the innocent but unattainable object of his desire. They ultimately aren't enough to keep either Wong or Short of Love from falling short of fans' expectations.
Short of Love opens today



Short of Love