I made a conscious decision to avoid Hidden Heroes when it was first released. I was, frankly, sick of Joe Ma’s recent romantic comedies and, like many others, I was not buying into The Twins hype. Over the last years, I’ve come to appreciate the comedy styling’s of Ronald Cheng so I decided to check this 2004 comedy out. I’m happy to say I was thoroughly entertained.

Producer/writer Joe Ma was smart to bring in co-director Soi Cheang and his action director Jack Wong to help with the not-so-romantic comedy elements of the film, achieving a nice visual realization. Mr. Cheng does a nice job with his character who is a quirky, not-so-well respected member of the Hong Kong detectives. He breaks off a terrific Michael Chan impersonation that had me in a fit of laughter. Gillian Cheung manages to hold her own in a dual role of comedic eye candy. What is nice is that these two actors have continued to grow as performers in all of their subsequent works.