This movie is available for purchase at www.yesasia.com

Rating:

7

Year of release: 2004

Genre: action/comedy

Director: Danny Pang

Stars: Ekin Cheng, Charlene Choi, Dayo Wong, Jan Lamb, Kenny Bee

Rated IIB for language and violence

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Leave Me Alone

Normally, the prospect of a movie starring Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi isn't that exciting to me. So, I went into a viewing of Leave Me Alone with fairly low expectations. Happily, my expectations were met and, in fact, exceeded. While it's nothing too mind-blowing, Leave Me Alone is a surprisingly good movie that delivers some solid comedy and action.

In the film, Ekin portrays twin brothers. One is a gay fashion designer who lives in Hong Kong, and the other is a straight con artist who has moved to Thailand. During a visit to Hong Kong, the straight Ekin switches IDs with the gay one and borrows his car, which results in a big mess after an accident. Straight Ekin must try to fend off the advances of gay Ekin's lover and sort out the mess left in Thailand after gay Ekin (along with his girlfriend, played by Charlene Choi) fail to pay a tough loan shark back.

The first part of Leave Me Alone plays out as you might expect � it's a fairly lighthearted comedy. Actually, Ekin is very good in this part. While he's not going to win any Oscars anytime soon, at least he's not just trying to get by on his hair anymore. As the film goes on though, the story becomes more serious. There are a few comedic bits, such as gay Ekin teaching Charlene's dad (Kenny Bee) how to dress, but for the most part, the second half reminded me a lot of the Hong Kong action movies produced during the �golden years�. In particular, there's an exciting freeway chase that ranks up there with some of the best action work over the last few years. There's also a couple of nice shootouts that stand apart from a lot of the Matrix wannabes popping up nowadays.

Danny Pang is coming out as one of the strongest young directors working in Hong Kong right now, and Leave Me Alone puts another bright spot on his resume. The film could have used some tightening up, and the ending is a bit too upbeat. Also, as with his other movies, Pang tends to have a bit of a problem using overly �splashy� cinematography at inappropriate times. But overall, Leave Me Alone is a very solid movie that most Hong Kong film fans -- even the more jaded ones out there -- should enjoy.