When I first saw the trailer of Vincent Kok’s Keep Calm And Be A Superstar <臥底巨星>, I was particularly enjoyed how he choose to spoof Jackie Chan’s movies and even filled the clip towards the end with the famous Police Story <警察故事> theme. But upon finally watching the whole movie, this wannabe spoof of an action comedy is disappointingly low on laughs.
In Keep Calm And Be A Superstar <臥底巨星>, co-writer and director Vincent Kok fails to capitalise its potential to make fun of Jackie Chan and his movies. For all the attempted parodies ranging from Snake In The Eagle’s Shadow <蛇形刁手> to other acclaimed Hong Kong movies like Infernal Affairs <無間道>, most of the comedy failed to hit its intended target.
Shame about the underwhelming plot as well, which centres on a private detective named Tiezhu (Li Ronghao) being recruited by the police (Hui Siu-Hung) to infiltrate a crime syndicate revolving around the Hong Kong action superstar, Yuen Bao (Eason Chan).
Eason Chan certainly gives his all portraying a Jackie Chan-like wacky character. But no matter how gamely silly he tries to get, Chan’s over-the-top acting can only get this far. It doesn’t help when his co-star, Li Ronghao displays such a wooden performance that even the Cantonese dubbing of his Mandarin dialogue fails to offset the flaw.
The rest of the supporting actors are equally a mixed bag, with Danny Chan’s performance as Bao’s scheming manager feels as if he’s merely showing up for the sake of a paycheck. Zheng Jifeng, who previously appeared in a small role in Stephen Chow’s Mermaid <美人魚>, does quite an impression playing an over-the-top villain.
