Driving Miss Wealthy (2004)
Reviewed by: dandan on 2009-07-17
Summary: world's best filipino!
tycoon feng (chow chung) employs mario (lau ching-wan) under the false pretence that he will be his bodyguard: in fact, he is to pretend to be filipino and work as a driver for his daughter, jennifer (gigi leung). but, it's not quite that simple. after spending a few days witnessing jennifer's excesses, feng fakes a heart attack, his assistant assumes control of his estate and jennifer is cast out of the family home to fend for herself, with only mario for company. will this extravagant lesson teach jennifer the value of money open her eyes to the real world? i'm sure you can probably guess...

considering that the same director and writers would, a year later, go on to churn out the excellent 'crazy n'the city', one can only assume that 'driving miss wealthy' was them grasping the opportunity to exorcise all of the tired, lame, kinda racist, comedic guff that they had stored in their collective bowels. it really isn't very good at all, but i can't say that i wasn't entertained. even though a lot of the material is just kinda lame, there are a few decent moments of comedy and drama, which show the seeds of something better trying to break through.

then, of course, there's lau ching-wan, who seems to be able to make the most of whatever he is given; even when that's just speaking cantonese with a heavy accent for questionable comedic value. whilst gig leung is not without her charms and is certainly watchable as the bratty lead.

not good, but a diversion of sorts...