The Magic Hour (2008, Japan)

This Japanese comedy goes wrong in so many places it's not even funny. Hahaha, "it's not even funny" – geddit?! OK, seriously, though. Hahaha, "seriously, though" – geddit?! Ah, I'm killing myself. Hahaha, "I'm ki-" ok nevermind, no longer funny.

This comedy is about a low-level gangster gone wrong who saves his life by promising his boss to produce an elusive hitman he claims to know, only he doesn't. So he hires an actor to play the elusive hitman, only he uses a ruse to convince the actor to be hired, telling him it's really a film. Hilarity ensues. Or not. Unfortunately not, in this case.

I don't think there ever has been a film that has used so much contrivance and artifice to prop up a weak and shaky plot for so long. And at 137 minutes, WAY too long. A comedy should rarely exceed 90 minutes or it better be pretty damn funny. Credibility or plausibility are not what comedies are about, but this movie doesn't even come close. It panders to itself.

I'm not going to use the word "bad" to describe this film. I didn't view this film and think "bad". In fact, I got through the first DVD viewing alright, although after the first hour of the farce, it lost my interest because of implausibility. But knowing how the film unfolds, the film was absolutely unwatchable for a second time through. I couldn't even run it and ignore it while surfing the web. The holes caused by the implausibility should have melted the film in the canister.

It's competently shot and acted. It looks good and is sincerely presented. The problem is the fundamental source material. I'll note the Godfather references. Ultimately, I give it a rotten 3 out of 10 tomatoes.



La Lingerie (2008, Hong Kong)

I'm not a "Sex in the City" fan, I don't think I watched more than a couple episodes before not being drawn in enough to see what the hype was about. However, I have no doubt this Hong Kong romantic comedy is ripping off the "Sex in the City" style, with its pseudo-thoughtful musings on love and relationships in an urban setting from a female point of view which looks unusually how a male might view the female point of view. Or if it was written by a female, then maybe an astute female's view of how a male might view the female point of view. Ambiguity is key in selling a film like this.

However, ambiguity comes below eye candy, which might have been a better title for this film, and this film is a cinematic candy store.

Since I happened to have rented 2 comedies in a row, in comparison I'll say this one is much better than the above Japanese one. I do think Hong Kong does comedy better than Japan, in general terms. Japanese comedy is kind of uptight, whereas Hong Kong knows how to let loose.

This film isn't really about anything. It's just a "Sex in the City" rip-off. The eye candy is for the male audience, and the pseudo-insight on relationships is for the female audience. Clever. No substance. It's a passable film, it's not terrible, I don't know if it was insulting my intelligence or simply appealing further south. It took the second viewing to get all the characters straight, because in the first viewing, situations and characters were so poorly developed, if at all. In the second viewing, I could see what little development there is does actually get connected, and each character line is a continuous one, more or less.

I give it a fresh 7 out of 10 tomatoes. Not remarkable, but watchable, and I haven't had a date in an awfully long time. With a title like "La Lingerie", my standards are pretty damn low.