cityonfire.com | The Inspector Wears Skirts

	The Inspector Wears Skirts "What sounds like an amusing female empowerment action-adventure is really a lame-ass action-comedy where the action is sparse and the comedy isn't funny." - Numskull The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988) AKA: Top Squad Director: Wellson Shin (see postscript) Writer: Kam Fu Cheng Producer: Jackie Chan Cast: Sibelle Hu, Sandra Ng, Ellen Chan, Regina Kent, Kara Hui, Cynthia Rothrock Running Time: 91 min. Plot: Women train to be commandos. Isn't that adorable? Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com Reviews NUMSKULL'S REVIEW: What sounds like an amusing female empowerment action-adventure is really a lame-ass action-comedy where the action is sparse and the comedy isn't funny. Madam Wu (Sibelle Hu) has to turn a group of mostly ordinary women into some silly-ass female commando squad and takes them to a boot camp located near a similar camp for the all-male Tiger Squad. Among her cadets are the loudmouthed Amy, cute but clumsy Ailene, and a real bitch named May with overinflated self-esteem. The tiresome subplots include two of the female cadets, Betty and Karen, discovering that they've been dating (and giving lots of money to) the same man, then recruiting some of their comrades to ambush and beat the fuck out of him; the Tiger Squad coach, Mr. Kan, falling madly in love with Madam Wu from a distance and keeping stealthily-taken photographs of her in his wallet; and a jaw-droppingly, bowel-scrapingly painful musical number in a roller skating rink while Man from the Tiger Squad attempts to woo the quiet, difficult Jean. So, are we excited yet? Cynthia Rothrock has a supporting role as Madam Law, a sometime colleague of Madam Wu's, who helps to whip her cadets into shape and also shows up when the movie decides that a conflict of some sort is in order; some nameless bad guys decide to steal some jewels from an exhibition and the women assist the Tiger Squad in foiling them. It should come as no surprise that they get more of the spotlight than their male counterparts. There's a decent fight against the ringleader which should have capped off the movie, but instead it concludes with a ridiculous sequence in which the captured Mr. Kan communicates to the cadets on the other side of a wall by banging his head against it, wailing about his personal shortcomings the whole time. When he gets tired, he has one of his underlings take over. Substitute things like "I gas in public" with "I wasted an hour and a half on this movie" and you may find yourself imitating these guys pretty quickly. P.S. There appears to be some debate over whether "Wellson Chin" is an alternate spelling for Wilson Chin or a pseudonym for Jackie Chan. My assumption, based upon the DVD biography for him and the fact that Jackie Chan actually knows how to direct a fucking movie, is that it's the former. NUMSKULL'S RATING: 3/10

The Inspector Wears Skirts

"What sounds like an amusing female empowerment action-adventure is really a lame-ass action-comedy where the action is sparse and the comedy isn't funny."

- Numskull

The Inspector Wears Skirts (1988)

AKA: Top Squad

Director: Wellson Shin (see postscript)

Writer: Kam Fu Cheng

Producer: Jackie Chan

Cast: Sibelle Hu, Sandra Ng, Ellen Chan, Regina Kent, Kara Hui, Cynthia Rothrock

Running Time: 91 min.

Plot: Women train to be commandos. Isn't that adorable?

Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com

Reviews

NUMSKULL'S REVIEW: What sounds like an amusing female empowerment action-adventure is really a lame-ass action-comedy where the action is sparse and the comedy isn't funny. Madam Wu (Sibelle Hu) has to turn a group of mostly ordinary women into some silly-ass female commando squad and takes them to a boot camp located near a similar camp for the all-male Tiger Squad. Among her cadets are the loudmouthed Amy, cute but clumsy Ailene, and a real bitch named May with overinflated self-esteem.

The tiresome subplots include two of the female cadets, Betty and Karen, discovering that they've been dating (and giving lots of money to) the same man, then recruiting some of their comrades to ambush and beat the fuck out of him; the Tiger Squad coach, Mr. Kan, falling madly in love with Madam Wu from a distance and keeping stealthily-taken photographs of her in his wallet; and a jaw-droppingly, bowel-scrapingly painful musical number in a roller skating rink while Man from the Tiger Squad attempts to woo the quiet, difficult Jean.

So, are we excited yet?

Cynthia Rothrock has a supporting role as Madam Law, a sometime colleague of Madam Wu's, who helps to whip her cadets into shape and also shows up when the movie decides that a conflict of some sort is in order; some nameless bad guys decide to steal some jewels from an exhibition and the women assist the Tiger Squad in foiling them. It should come as no surprise that they get more of the spotlight than their male counterparts. There's a decent fight against the ringleader which should have capped off the movie, but instead it concludes with a ridiculous sequence in which the captured Mr. Kan communicates to the cadets on the other side of a wall by banging his head against it, wailing about his personal shortcomings the whole time. When he gets tired, he has one of his underlings take over. Substitute things like "I gas in public" with "I wasted an hour and a half on this movie" and you may find yourself imitating these guys pretty quickly.

P.S. There appears to be some debate over whether "Wellson Chin" is an alternate spelling for Wilson Chin or a pseudonym for Jackie Chan. My assumption, based upon the DVD biography for him and the fact that Jackie Chan actually knows how to direct a fucking movie, is that it's the former.

NUMSKULL'S RATING: 3/10