The Spy Dad is a fun movie, but it lacks that special spark most of Wong Jing's better films have had. In many ways, it is one of his strongest efforts -- the movie looks great and actually has a somewhat plausible storyline that's easy to follow. But as a longtime fan of Wong's work, I frankly missed the toilet humor and ultra-violence which are his trademarks. Even though there is nothing really wrong with The Spy Dad, it does feel more than a bit watered-down. Obviously, Wong was going for more of a mass-market appeal with this picture, and unfortunately, it doesn't fully work out.

The story has Tony Leung Ka-Fai (the "other" Tony, which is the premise of some of the jokes in the film) as an action star named James Bon who's tough on screen, but a wimp in real life, which is why his wife (Candice Yu) left him. Jordan Chan plays a Interpol agent who is trying to get two viruses from terrorists played by Elvis Tsui and Eric Kwok. During his attempt to get the chemicals, Jordan accidentally inhales one which makes him act like a four-year-old and ends up in Tony's backyard. Tony must try and get rid of the agent while keeping his daughter (Gillian Chung) "safe" from a potential suitor (Edison Chen), downplaying the advances of his assistant (Teresa Mo), keeping his amnesiac brother-in-law (Chapman To) safe, as well as negotating a part in a big new production starring his ex-wife.

Like I said before, there's nothing all that wrong with The Spy Dad. Some of the jokes (particularly the running one about Tony being in Infernal Affairs) are funny, the action (most of which parodies films like The Matrix and Enter the Dragon) is well-done, and there is some definite nice eye candy from the leads. But nothing really seems to click. For most of its' running time, The Spy Dad just seems to be going through the motions and playing it safe.

Even though The Spy Dad is a good movie, there's really not that much to seperate it from legions of other similar Hong Kong comedies. There's lots of slapstick, Cantonese puns, pop-culture references, and high-flying action. All of it is done well, but, again, it just feels like we've all been down this road many times before. I might be getting a little more nit-picky, but after seeing dozens of half-ass efforts from both sides of the ocean last year, it's going to take something more special than this to make me stand up and take notice.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]