Love Undercover I - II 《新紮師妹 I - II》 (2002 - 2003), Miriam Yeung, Daniel Wu, Benz Hui, Raymond Wong Options

[Guest_damsel_*]

Love Under Cover 1 (2002)

[img]http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/chimage.php3?image=love_undercover.jpg[/img]
Cast: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Daniel Wu, Iris Wong Yat-Tung, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin, Yau Kei-Man, Wyman Wong Wai-Man, Sammy, Hyper BB, Cha Siu-Yan, Hui Siu-Hung, Ng Chi-Hung, Wilson Yip Wai-Shun, Lee Siu-Kei, Matt Chow Hoi-Kwong, Alan Mak Siu-Fai, Joe Lee Yiu-Ming, Wong Yat-Ming, Chow Chung

Synopis and Review:

The suddenly bankable Miriam Yeung stars in Love Undercover, her third film with director Joe Ma and her second based on an older Hong Kong film. Yeung is Kuen, a rookie cop who flunked every single important test as a cadet. However, Hong Kong needs cops so she graduates anyway. Sentenced to the Lost Property Department, Kuen can only gossip with her co-workers and lust after hunk cop Hung (Raymond Wong Ho-Yin).
However, Kuen gets her chance pretty quick. The Serious Crime Unit picks her for minor undercover work because she has no family, boyfriend or dog, and wouldn't be missed if the target decides to off her. She's assigned to bug suspected triad guy Hoi (Daniel Wu), but thanks to nutty situation comedy circumstances she ends up catching his eye. Hoi decides to pursue Kuen, and the Serious Crime Unit couldn't be happier. Led by Officer Chung (Hui Siu-Hung) and previously-mentioned hunk Hung, the cops go about setting up an elaborate cover for Kuen. They plan to keep her close to Hoi in hopes of discovering his evil plans.
That is, if he even has any. Why anyone would suspect Hoi is beyond me, because he's played by Daniel Wu as an affable, decent fellow who only happened to be born into a [retired] triad family. It's hard to believe the Serious Crime Unit would waste lots of money to investigate Hoi, much less use a rookie cop to handle serious undercover work. Kuen shouldn't even be a cop; she's petulant, whiny, and generally unpredictable and silly.
Kuen's personality shouldn't be a surprise, however, as it's the exact same character Miriam Yeung has played in her last three pictures. That said, she does it extremely well so we should all clap happily. Most of the film's unsubtle joys come from Yeung's deadpan, nonsensical ways of dealing with whatever problems arise. In reality, her character would probably be expelled from the force and cited for obstruction of justice, but it's hard not to like Yeung's nutty antics. Yeung is still a remarkably raw actress, but she's a charming performer and a more-than-competent lead actress.
The film itself doesn't do anything new. Kuen eventually starts to fall for Hoi, but must decide whether she can continue to lie to him. Meanwhile, the cops aren't so sure she's the right choice anymore because of that pesky conflict of interest thing. These are your standard cop-goes-undercover clichés, but this movie shouldn't be seen for it's witty, creative narrative or white-knuckle thrills (of which it has none). This is simply an amiable little trifle that amuses without insulting, which is a welcome cinematic feat nowadays. Joe Ma's films have varied in quality, but Love Undercover manages to be better than his previous two comedies (Fighting for Love and Dummy Mommy without a Baby).
The supporting cast is uniformly amusing, with Ma regulars Wyman Wong and Joe Lee providing especially funny turns. The suddenly-everywhere Daniel Wu hasn't really proven himself as a comic talent, but he's a good straight man with a likable screen presence. Still, Love Undercover is primarily a showcase for Miriam Yeung. While not as good an overall actress as Gigi Leung or Cecilia Cheung, she's arguably a better comedy lead than either.
Yeung's movies have been surprisingly successful too, which is something that can only be applauded. Hong Kong movies need to make money or this website will no longer have anything to talk about. If Miriam Yeung can bring box office success (and can avoid working with Wong Jing), then I heartily endorse her efforts. (Kozo 2002)

Love Under Cover 2 (2003)



Cast: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Daniel Wu, Hui Siu-Hung, Guo Xiao-Dang, Lam Suet, Raymond Wong Ho-Yin, Sammy, Chow Chung, Wu Feng, Cheung Ying-Choi, Chan Man-Lui, Iris Wong Yat-Tung, Coco Chiang Yi, Hayama Go, Eileen Cha Siu-Yan, Lee Ka-Wing, Chau Ka-Sing, Emotion Cheung Kam-Ching (voice only)

Synopsis and Review:

Last year's Love Undercover heralded the arrival of a new box office star: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah. The story of a mouthy female cop who falls in love with a suspected triad member on assignment, Love Undercover managed to feel funny and inspired among the usual romantic comedy copycats and tired popstar retreads. Yeung's fresh-scrubbed charm and nonsensical "just trying to get by" antics gave her an irresistible screen presence, and audiences responded with their hard-earned HK dollars. Given the film's popularity—and Miriam Yeung's skyrocketing box-office ability—a sequel was expected. Well...here it is.
When we last left Fong Lai-Kuen (Yeung), she had just solved the big case and won the love of her dashing would-be triad boyfriend Au Hoi-Man (Daniel Wu). Her supposedly superior law-enforcing skills earn her a ticket to bigger and better jobs, i.e. police negotiator and bomb squad member. Sadly, she fails at all the above jobs and is soon suspended from the force for her crappy policework, and probably her continuing whiny attitude. This makes Man exceptionally happy, because now he can have Kuen's silly, borderline annoying presence to himself 24-7.
But the lure of law enforcement draws Kuen back. At the behest of Chung Sir (Hui Siu-Hung), Kuen helps with the protection of the visiting Princess of Puerto Risi, Tasha (model Coco Chiang). Chung was originally supposed to put her up in a fancy hotel, but he lost the expense money when he fell asleep on the MTR, thus requiring some sort of quick fix to the problem. The solution: use Kuen's house as the hotel, and Kuen's colleagues as employees, a tactic that creates about fifty jokes, but probably only ten funny ones. A low percentage of actual laughs should be expected when you steal plots from reruns of The Cosby Show.
But the wackiness doesn't end there. Tasha has her eye on Man, which incenses Kuen. One thing leads to another, Kuen botches the assignment, and before you know it she's impersonating Tasha on an Interpol mission, which is led by Tasha's partner Lam Suet. Everyone goes to Shanghai, the evil criminal mastermind (Guo Xiao-Dang) makes himself known, studly officer Hung (Raymond Wong Ho-Yin) makes a return, and Kuen attends a Russian cultural event, where she dances up a storm in a massive green hat. Meanwhile, Man is mad at her for returning to work, but really wants to marry Kuen and chain her to his side. And since Kuen is played by Miriam Yeung, what right-minded male wouldn't?
Oddly enough, it's not Miriam Yeung that comes off looking the best in this film. She's trademark cute and wacky, but her silliness is nothing new. Instead, Daniel Wu wins all the sympathy points. Despite being an ultra-sculpted hunk of manflesh, Wu has a winning nice guy persona, and gets to play probably the most likable character in the film. Guys like Man are a rarity, and indeed most people who find Daniel Wu attractive will likely swoon at his earnest love for Kuen. After a while, it starts to seem strange that Man is constantly trying to rope Kuen in. Sure, she's adorable and funny, but Man is an uber-great guy that would actually ignore the smoking hot Coco Chiang in favor of the pretty, but still enormously weird and nutty Miriam Yeung. Shouldn't she be the one trying to keep him?
Still, asking that queston would require Love Undercover 2 to make sense, which it pretty much doesn't. Unlike the first film—which featured some wacky characters and some straight-laced ones—this sequel has an entire cast of totally off-the-wall and completely unfathomable characters. Nobody in this film seems to be operating on eight cylinders, from Kuen to Man to bad guy Guo Xiao-Dang. If the film's print advertising featured the phrase, "From the makers of Airplane and The Naked Gun," it might almost be appropriate. Situations and scenes come and go, and no tension or even conflict is created. The first film milked its laughs from the nonsensical Kuen and her winning ways in the face of possible conflict or danger. There was a genuine charm to Miriam Yeung's off-beat goofiness and mouthy antics. Here she's just weird, and so is everybody else.
Eventually everything gets resolved in completely unrelated ways. The main plotline of Kuen's brush with high-art thievery (the bad guys are a wacky support group of thieves who steal for kicks) collides with the secondary plot, involving Man's father (Chow Chung) and his old gang buddies (Wu Feng, Cheung Ying-Choi and Chan Man-Lui). How this happens is due to the magic of contrived happenstance and substandard editing. Director Joe Ma seems to be pulling ideas out of nowhere, and the constant weirdness is only sometimes amusing. There's fun to be had in some of the minor performances (Lam Suet and Hui Siu-Hung overdo the hijinks quite well) and there's eye candy for both the male and female-inclined. There's also gross missteps (totally uninteresting bad guys, nonexistent romantic tension) and odd performances (Sammy Leung's Daniel Wu impression needs work), and the whole thing is so bizarre and ridiculous that it could induce long stretches of silence. Yes, Love Undercover 1 is a better film.
If you have to blame someone, blame Joe Ma. In the past, his works have had a charming looseness that seemed appropriate for his young stars and Gen-X subject matter. But most of his recent features have been inconsistent, possessing of occasional charm, but also bizarre randomness and unintentional tedium. Love Undercover 2: Love Mission follows suit, but the trend isn't a welcome one. He may not be as crass, but if Joe Ma keeps this up, he could end up being the new Wong Jing. Simply taking an idea and running with it is not always the best course of action. Sometimes you need to plan, find a narrative thread, and actually create something worth caring about. True, rabid fans of Miriam Yeung and/or Daniel Wu will probably find much to enjoy in the couple's brief exchanges of affection, but that isn't going to satisfy everyone. Those who expect to love everything Miriam Yeung does will probably not be disappointed. But let's face it, not everyone is is going to love everything Miriam Yeung does. (Kozo 2003)


credit to lovehkfilm

This post has been edited by damsel: Jan 17 2004 12 55 AM

[Jess]

I love both installments because Miriam is adorable, and Daniel is to die for.....!! He's super hot, and she's super cute, and the movies are super funny . I love all of their moments together.... and in part 2, especially the beginning when Miriam was given varieties of occupations in the police field, and every time she fails, she gets demoted until she was back to her Lost & Found post, hahhaa. I love it

[NicTseWifey]

I think the first Love Undercover was MUCH better than the second one. In the first one I was laughing so hard rolling on the floor The second one was such a disappointment. I found the jokes old, used, and corny. Also, Daniel Wu is so hot but it made him seem like he was desperate to stay with Miriam Yeung.

[Guest_damsel_*]

i like both l.u 1n2 eventhough part 1 was funnier... there are rumors that there will be part 3 of love undercover.

[Guest_aKiNa_*]

Only seen the first one. Funny how she dosnt really act like a cop . Yer i know, thats because she's an undercover

[Guest_aKiNa_*]

Information:Click here


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[Guest_damsel_*]

miriam and daniel are so cute together!

[Aznb0i]

i heard love undercover 2 is good (watched first 1 it was hilarious) i really wanaa watch it ne1 tell where i can get it or gimme a link too it i'll relaly aprreciate it ty!

This post has been edited by Aznb0i: Apr 3 2004 11 29 PM

[KSeven]

request it at the download section
ive watch this too
but i find the one way better

they are making love undercover 3 i think but its cartoon

[x - Happy - x]

If you want to d/l it then i suggest you try the download section, if you wanna buy it then you could find it at www.yesasia.com

[dreams_fullfiled]

omg im like watching the first one right now! i love both of them! they are SO funny haha Miriam n Daniel are so cute together [daniel is especially cute in the first one

[dreams_fullfiled]

u can buy like the copied versions really cheap! depending on where u are though [i guess]. like if u have like those china town, or something like that or a mall that is dedicated to like asian stuff, then u can go there and buy it....my friend bought that for me n it only cost like $6 or so

[m1ss]

the first one was more "fresh" and personally, i liked teh first one better..
but the pairing of Daniel and Miriam were great =)

[Jules]

same here...I liked the First one sooo much better. In the second one she was just soo goofy. I loove the pair Miriam and Daniel though. Daniel is sooo cute!

[Crichton]

Oh, I saw these at the Fanime convention, and can say that "Love Undercover" is half the reason I fell in love with Asian cinema!

So funny! Desperately hoping for a third, but would be dissapointed if that crazy "cartoon" rumour was true. Not to disrespect the director or anything, but I really like this cast.

[gossip80]

the first one was amazing, cute, funny, all of the above!!

the second one was horrible, it was somewhat funny and kinda pointless, but the cutest part i found in it, was the part where miriam calls back home to ask daniel for a couple million, and he's like, okay, i'll write you a check, i don't know, i just find it so cute how he doesn't question anything, obviously he loves her a lot!

[Jules]

yeah agreed...second one was almost terrible to me. Some of the jokes and everything were pointless and just not funny. That part was cute when Daniel just was like...ok, I'll give you a million. God he's sooo cute!

[mistic_unicorn39...]

i must say that the 1st one waz much better than the 2nd

this movie was not that funny,it was kind of stupid,go watch shaolin soccer if u ant a funny movie

[candy.rain]

ive watched both love undercover I and II. i think the first wun is betta tho. but both are Quite funni and fun 2 watch

[xiaoying123]

i watch love undercover 2 1st then lover undercover 1!
so i think both r very funny.
r they gonna make love undercover3 with the cartoon!
if so i dont; like it! i rather they made it in real person/ =D
any new about it?

[Jules]

I know they're making a third one...but cartoon??? I HOPE NOT! We'll just have to wait and see huh??

[liuz]

i love watching love undercover 1, it had me in stiches... not sure about love undercover 2 though, it's pretty stupid i think.

[moto]

i watched both of them but i like the Love Undercover 1 more. i find the 2nd one to be abit boring at times, but it's still good

both theme songs are veri good~ i really like the lyrics.
i think both theme songs were composed by wyman

[lilliums]

i've seen Love Undercover 2, but I haven't seen the first one yet. I thought the second one was pretty good...so if you guys all say that the first one is better than the second one, then that must mean the first one is really awesome.

[Zyphere]

Yeah I saw the first one as well. It was really funny.

GO GO GO GO GO!

I should really get around to watching the second, heh..

[smarties24]

yeah i agree..the second one was bit boring and stupid! i remb laughing when they zoomed into this product for like 5secs to promote it! even if this product did sponsor (part of) the movie they didnt need to be so obvious!:blink:

[lilliums]

well i just watched the first one...and yeah, you guys are right, it's MUCH better than the second one. i laughed so much harder than i did in the second one. especially when Raymond Wong posed as a pimp...hahaha...Daniel and Miriam were really cute.

and Jules, i'd say the first one is excellent, while the second one is okay.

[Sunh3h3]

the first one was awesome and very funny , the second one was a total disappointment, i was mad thru out the movie, the ONLY part that made me laughed was the beginning, the entire movie was just extremely STUPID, anyone would be ashamed of ever watching such a movie!!!

[XxMoOmOoxX]

...i watched both of dese movies...i dought dat da 1st one was better...it was more funni...

[Guest_Hugsnkis321_*]

the first one was awesome and very funny  , the second one was a total disappointment, i was mad thru out the movie, the ONLY part that made me laughed was the beginning, the entire movie was just extremely STUPID, anyone would be ashamed of ever watching such a movie!!!

i agree, i didn't like the 2nd one at all. usually when i rent a movie, i would watch it at least twice b4 returning it 2 the rental place (or burn it, if i like it), but w/ Luv Undercover II, i only watch it once & im done w/ it. the 1st one was much more funny & i enjoy it more. the 2nd one try 2 hard 2 b funny & it totally back fire (it's 2 silly & stupid IMO). though i'll admit, Daniel was much more hot in the 2nd 1 (i think thatz b/c i didn't like his hair in the 1st 1). well, even though i didn't like Luv Undercover 2: Luv Mission, i didn't regret watchin it.

This post has been edited by Hugsnkis321: Aug 19 2004 2 09 AM

[madz]

the second one sucks! i only watched half of part II before i abandoned it and delet it !!!

the second film tried TOO hard to be funny....

[tvbaddict]

i loved both of them, but the 1st one was much better

[CrushedDreamz]

Love Undercover 1 was great!! i watched it over and over!! but some parts were cut out on vcd... like the part where daniel sees miriams id... i saw that part in teh previews.... but it was great!! i totally fell in love with daniel!!! =D havent seen the second one yet..... is daniel just as cute and hot!?!??!

This post has been edited by CrushedDreamz: Sep 2 2004 6 06 AM

[Guest_Hugsnkis321_*]

havent seen the second one yet..... is daniel just as cute and hot!?!??!

i didn't think he was that hot/cute in LU1, because of his hair (i just can't stand it). just not my cup of tea; he lookz wayyyy better in Gen-X Cop (sooo freaken HOT!). though i must say, he was pretty hot in LU2, esp luv his shower scene

[CrushedDreamz]

[QUOTE] Hugsnkis321: didn't think he was that hot/cute in LU1, because of his hair (i just can't stand it). just not my cup of tea; he lookz wayyyy better in Gen-X Cop (sooo freaken HOT!).

really?! i actually prefer daniel with the hair he had/has in Love Undercover..

This post has been edited by CrushedDreamz: Sep 6 2004 9 02 AM

[tally]

yah... LU2 just totally sucked for me... i expected more.. there werent many comedic scenes even though they tried.. it was such a disappointment.. sigh.. but i heard they were making an animated version of LU3...not sure if that will ever come about..

hmm.. i didnt really like Daniel's hair in LU... the only time where it looked good was when Miriam and the rest of the police force went to Daniel's mansion... he looked really good in the brown jacket!

love undercover was a funny movie 1 and 2 were great

The first one was very good, maybe because I just liked all the characters in it and as a miriam yeung fan how could I found this a bad movie. So maybe my opinion is not 100% obejective. The second was funny but was more of the same and not as good as the first one. I heard Joe Ma is planning to release a 3th movie, but that an animated one. I wonder if he is still planning to make such an animation.

[shorty-gal]

omg im a big big big big fan of daniel wu because hes super duper cute! i found these 2 movie kinda pointless but hey if it got a hot guy in there y not just watch it! hahhaha well yes... kinda of funny and dumb at the same time!