Movie Review: Marriage With a Fool/獨家試愛

Marriage With a Fool/獨家試愛 is an early Patrick Kong movie.  It is also among the first times that he used his now-patented twist ending.  But so what?

Alex Fong and Stephy Tang get married.  It was a little weird seeing Stephy in a wedding dress because she looked about 12 years old.  These two young people love each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together. That’s why they get married.  What could possibly go wrong?   In truth, very little about this movie goes right. And not just in the story.  Stephy’s character turns out to be a whiny, petulant brat. 

Or maybe just a regular Hong Kong woman. I don’t know.

AAlex Fong runs into his ex-tutor, played by Pace Wu.  

I don’t know the Chinese word for cougar, but Pace Wu is one.

 It doesn’t bother me, I’m just pointing it out.

 Their young love and marriage is put to the test.  Just like my patience.  Stephy has three friends, all of whom are so irritating that I could barely watch them.  Then again, one of Alex Fong’s friends is Wong Cho Lam.  

So actually Stephy’s friends weren’t so bad after all.

They are her co-workers in a karaoke, where she sees all the sides of life, an observation as clumsy as it is naive.  Who writes this sh*t?

 So this young love is put to the test, and the subjects both end up frequently lubricated with beer.   That’s always a recipe for disaster.  Or at least Chlamydia.    Stephy meets an odd man with an odd job and an odd hobby. This early comedic role from Philip Ng is entertaining, and he doesn’t even beat anyone up in the movie.

Dammit.

But to be fair, there were some things I enjoyed about this movie.It’s reach sometimes exceeded its grasp, but I enjoyed the less-than-rosy depiction of marriage and married people.I also enjoyed watching people being selfish, devious, and piggish.I guess it allows me to feel better about myself…  I also really got a kick out of Alex Fong trying to do The Face of Rage.  Let’s just say it didn’t convince me. One of the few things I like about Patrick Kong’s movies is that his characters certainly seem much more real than

those in a lot of other local movies.  Stephy Tang did a good job in her role, and at times I could see her character instead of her.

Alex Fong didn’t fare so well, but he at least seemed to be trying.  I did recognize a dai pai dong just down the street from here.

That’s not much, but with Patrick Kong movies you kinda have to take what you can get.