The word "dopey" doesn't even begin to describe The Hong Kong Happy Man, a low-budget (or, rather, no-budget) effort that tries to be a fun T&A themed comedy, but forgets some major points. One, most of the so-called comedy featured here is anything but funny, and two, there's hardly any T and absolutely no A present.

In the movie, Hui Siu-Hung plays KY, an executive whose advertising firm is on the ropes. The fact that his name is the same as a brand of sexual lubricants shows you how zany the mirth you'll be enjoying for the next hour and a half is. Anyway, the firm's last big client shows up for a meeting and sees some naked pictures (the only nudity featured in the movie) on one of the company's computers and wants to use that model for his next ad campaign. So it's off to Thailand the company goes in search of the model and some, as the terrible subtitles refer to the act of fornication, "fevering".

For a movie that bases itself off of euphemisms for the horizontal bop and the search for willing participants of said motion, The Hong Kong Happy Man is about as sexy as a cold wet blanket. Sure, some of this is due to the leads (and their characters) being middle-aged doofuses, but it takes a whole new level of incompetence to make Ms. "mystical breasts" Diana Pang Dan seem unappealing. Yes, she made her whole career out of being a professional tease, so you know you're never going to see her two points, but who thought it was a good idea to have her in a not flattering Bo Derek-esque hairdo circa 1978? And she's shrill and annoying to boot, coming off as the sterotypical petty and shallow woman all too present in Hong Kong comedies.

Not surprisingly, The Hong Kong Happy Man was a flop at the local box office, running for only a week and, as per the Hong Kong Movie Database, taking in HK$6115, which is around 784 US dollars. What is a bit puzzling is that there was actually a sequel released the same year. More than likely, this was a case of two cheap productions piggybacking on each other, but the fact that the next installment was even released shows how low Hong Kong film-makers were sinking at this point to eke out even a few bucks for their efforts.

RATING: 4