La Brassiere (2001)

Director: Patrick Leung Pak-Kin, Chan Hing-Kar

Producer: Chan Hing-Kar, Amy Chin Siu-Wai

Cast: Louis Koo (Tin Lok), Gigi Leung Wing-Kei, Lau Ching-Wan, Carina Lau Ka-Ling, Lee San-San, Chikako Aoyama, Higuchi Asuka, GC Goo Bi.

Running Time: 111 min.

Plot: Samantha (Carina Lau), the president of a renowned brassiere company, breaks the tradition and hires two guys, Johnny (Lau Ching Wan) and Wayne (Louis Koo), as brassiere designers, and requires them to submit a novel design in 3 months. Lena (Gigi Leung) is discontent with this decision and deliberately makes things difficult for them. The two male newcomers thus end up looking like buffoons. As Samantha's deadline approaches, will the two men be able to devise the "ultimate bra"?

ALEXANDER'S REVIEW: So, we're to believe that double-chinned Lau Ching Wan is a lady killer capable of sweeping gorgeous and intelligent women off of their feet? That a high profile bra designing firm would give two hustlers with no experience in the lingerie field top positions in management simply because they are men? That Louis Koo uses "Your bra buckle buckle is off" as a pick-up line and it WORKS? That a room full of supposedly intelligent and professional women find Lau Ching Wan's and Koo's infantile antics hilarious? I guess that if you can get past these implausibilities (and others) and take the movie for what it is -- a light-hearted, goofy showcase for the comedic "talents" of Wan and Woo - then you'll probably enjoy it, albeit slightly.

La Bra has it's moments, including a funny bit near the beginning involving a series of job interviews ("We are fetishists" is one of Koo's funniest lines) and another when Wan and Koo are forced to strap themselves into "breast simulators". However, the comedy abates considerably in the second half of the film when the story shifts from the men's attempts to establish their credibility within the company to the blossoming romances between them and their bosses (played by Gigi Leung and Carina Lau).

I guess my biggest problem with the movie is the way the women are basically portrayed as brainless and subservient, poorly camouflaged by cute outfits and prestigious jobs. The way they fawn over the new male hires is irritating considering we're supposed to believe these women are intelligent professionals. When the men are present, the office sheds its corporate image and becomes a never ending slumber party with incessant giggling, flirting, frat-boy pranks and gossip. It doesn't help matters when the CEO of the company falls for bumbling Lau Ching Wan, whose absurd ideas and blatant chauvinism would send any sensible woman fleeing in disgust.

ALEXANDER'S RATING: 5/10

BEN POPPEL'S REVIEW: Going in, mI was thinking this was a romantic comedy. But after watching the picture, I didn't find much romance or comedy at all. Instead, more like gross out humor. Well ok, it wasn't that grossâ I was hoping to laugh out loud more, but instead found myself watching the scenes wondering, "Was that supposed to be funny?". But this is still a watchable film due to the good production values and all-star cast. The teaming of Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo was excellent. Most of the cameos were also a blast to watch. But I kept feeling like my attention was drifting away from this movie (It actually took me five days to finish this film). It just didn't seem like it had the pizzazz or slapstick I was hoping for. Or maybe it was that over half the movie was spent discussing bras, which didn't interest me at all. What did keep my attention were all the lovely ladies prancing around in their luscious underwear. This movie has received great praise and recognition by reviewers and audiences. However, I found it to be just an average, OK flick. Probably the ladies could appreciate the bra jokes more than the guys. We will just stick to appreciating the bras.

BEN POPPEL'S RATING: 6/10

EKU®'S REVIEW: Carina Lau is the CEO of bra-operations in hong kong from a Japanese ladies' undergarments company. She is assigned the difficult task of coming up with the 'ultimate bra' in 3 months. She goes out and hires 2 male unexperienced designers hoping to get fresh ideas. Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo are her newly hired employees. Lau is a former men's underwear designer and Koo is a former product designer of some sort (forgot what).

Gigi Leung rejects the idea that a man can ever develop a sense of bra designing because she claims that men aren't capable of understanding what a woman needs. Meanwhile she is seeing a guy (stephen fung cameo), who leaves her for a 36-D chick. The short appearance of a character Ali-Bra-Bra, who's been named the street-bra-king (for selling bra's on the street ever since he was born), played by Patrick Tam was very interesting and funny. The performances and jokes were very funny and enjoyable. The scene where lau and koo had to wear balloons around in the gym was pretty funny, not to mention when they were putting the bra's on. The part where they woke up one day and all-of-a-sudden can see through all the women's shirts was funny, naming all the sizes and features of their bra's. Overall, i enjoyed this comedy and recommend it for the good laughs.

EKU®'S RATING: 8/10

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S REVIEW: You've heard about this movie (it's been simply referred to "The Bra Movie") and you know the story: Two "everyday" guys are hired to create "The Ultimate Bra" and they have three months to do it. With a little bit more and nothing less, "La Brassiere" succeeds. It succeeds for one major reason: it's cast. The pairing up of, for the first time ever, Lau Ching-Wan and Louis Koo is definitely the strongest leg of the table. Not only have these guys been in numerous, diverse, and challenging roles - but both men are HK's most respected actors. The same goes for Gigi Leung and Carina Lau, who are perfectly placed into this film and gel nicely with the two leading men.

"La Brassiere" is sorta hard to review because it's nothing more than an enjoyable, fun film. It wasn't trying to be the years best comedy or a masterpiece of any kind. It's one of those films where you can sense that the whole production was just having a good time and got some work done as well. For instance, there is a scene where Gigi Leung is showing the two men how to properly put their bras on (...uh, see the movie). During this scene, all three characters snicker and laugh and it's only a matter of time before you realize they're not acting. To me, that moment summed up the whole essence of the film.

There were a couple of "miner" things that bothered me. Firstly, the reoccurring main-theme music of the film. Is it me, or does it sound like that 80's tune "Walkin On Sunshine" by Katrina & The Waves? Well, I think it does and that sucks. I'd really like to forget about that song and I'd like to forget about the damn music video even more. This may sound silly, but everytime the theme came on, I had flashback images of guys in trenchcoats and Converse high-tops with Katrina strolling by singing her one-hit wonder. Bad choice in soundtrack fellas. I know it catches the feel and mood of the film but hell, so does a lot of other music! It's one of those things where you've had this bad memory out of your system after all these years, then suddenly, it all comes back due to a familiar melody in a film's soundtrack. Do I sound like a bitch or what?

The second thing that bothered me were a few of the subplots. Don't get me wrong, a movie with a premise like this needs some support from a little subplot here and there, but some actually hurt the film. The whole thing with Lau Ching Wan and his girlfriend (why he left her for Carina Lau is beyond my understanding!) was unnecessary and totally unexplainable to the audiences. It was never said why he was unhappy with her to begin with, so why the hell did they have her character in the film anyways? Same goes for Gigi Leung and her troubled past-relationship with Stephen Fung, which was pretty much a poor excuse to feature a cameo by him. Speaking of which, keep your eyes open for a few other cameos as well.

I'm down to the fourth paragraph and I can't believe I didn't mention it sooner. This movie has lots of shirtless babes in it. No naked flesh, but lots of babes running around in their bras and under clothing. Good enough for me, because if I wanted anything more I'd get some porn. I've got photographic images in my head of the bitchy woman who tried on the "Zipper Bra". And how can I forget the scene with that Japanese chick named "Miko" who was curved to perfection! So for all you guys who are into Asian chicks and didn't see enough of Zhang Ziyi in "Rush Hour II", this Buds for you.

To sum it all up, just go and re-read the second paragraph of this review, which pretty much says it all. Also, look forward to the "laser-fire" scene - it's classic and probably the most funniest bit in the movie!

MIGHTY PEKING MAN'S RATING: 7.5/10