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Cast:
Michelle
Reis
Raymond
Wong
Stephen
Fung
Karen
Mok
Kelly
Lin
Suki
Kwan
Jordan
Chan
Alex
To
Florence
Kwok
Chapman
To
Hui
Siu Hung
Producer:
Wong
Jing
Director:
Liu
Kim Wa
Score:
  
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THE
IRRESISTIBLE PIGGIES
AKA:
The Irresistible Women
Year:
2002 Reviewer: Andrew
Saroch
Liu
Kim Wa, director of the criminally underrated 'Sunshine
Cops', presents viewers with an intriguing premise: take
four of Hong Kong's most beautiful actresses and turn them
into a quartet of viciously persecuted, constantly ridiculed 'piggies'.
Though the thought of each of them in some way hindered by a
physical flaw could never be expected to sustain a 100 minute
running time, 'The Irresistible Piggies' is thankfully not
just a one-trick pony, relying on a gimmick to attract an
audience.
When
Sai (Wong) joins his cousin Lun (Fung) at mobile phone company
LMF, he meets four women who are saddled with the unpleasant
nickname of the 'Four Piggies' due to their physical
blemishes. Firstly there is Mo (Reis) who, though she
immediately catches the eye of Sai, has been afflicted with an
unfortunate loss of hair since she was young. Then there is
wild security guard Mei (Mok) who is covered from head to toe
with thick, black hair and Hung (Lin) who secretly likes Lun,
but is hindered by an aggressive red birth-mark that covers
her face. The finally member of the unenviable team is the
adorable Pao (Kwan) who is mocked because of her buck-teeth
and narrow eyes, though her love for her kind boss (To)
remains undiminished. Despite the mockery they endure from
their colleagues, Sai decides to champion their cause and,
hopefully, impress Mo - whose unusual affliction is hidden
from him by her ubiquitous cap. The 'Piggies' are made
redundant when the company down-sizes, but decide that they
have been pushed around for far too long and decide to fight
back. With the help of the ludicrously camp Spring (Chan) the
quartet attempt to beat their colleagues' prejudices while
they also search for a cure for their very individual
problems.
Scripted
and produced by Wong Jing, 'The Irresistible Piggies' has few
of his commonly crass touches though it is an over-the-top
comedy. Jing provides a good-natured screenplay that manages
to take the leading ladies and make them much more than
figures of fun for the audience - the thankfully restrained
script shows that Wong Jing doesn't always need to scrape the
bottom of the barrel in an attempt to entertain. Though the
film isn't a work of great art, director Liu Kim Wa ensures
that the primary objective to entertain is properly realised
and any potential decrease in pace is happily avoided.
While
this enjoyable comedy benefits from winning turns from Stephen
Fung, Raymond Wong and an outrageous Jordan Chan, this is
definitely a film that belongs to its female leads. The 'Piggies'
and their strong-willed determination to be accepted is one
reason why a potentially awkward movie is much better than it
implies; the four actresses are constantly endearing and prove
once again that Hong Kong still has a significant amount of
talented performers both male and female. The always-watchable
Karen Mok steals nearly every scene she's in, while Suki Kwan
is delightful as Pao.
'The
Irresistible Piggies' is a comedy that is perhaps best
appreciated by viewers who are now accustomed to Hong Kong's
big screen laughs. The laughs can be a bit too parochial for
inexperienced viewers while the sudden mood change from
touching romance to typically surreal canto-humour may be too
jarring for some. However, despite its quirks and
eccentricities, this is still a feel-good film that is more
hits than misses.
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