As much as I disliked some of the Christmas movies, it was usually more or less clear what the filmmakers were attempting. Here... I have no idea. The first ten minutes or so promise to be fun, with Raymond Yip aping the camerawork and general silliness of Tokyo Raiders, while Ekin and Louis sport ridiculous outfits and cigars, and Kristy Yang looks like some kind of hippie. Once the plot kicks in, though, things get a little more stupid and a little less "goofy." Even worse, Hsu Chi mugs it up in... four roles? Five roles? It's like some kind of horrible nightmare. The most prominent role is actually MEANT to be child-like, meaning she squeaks and prances and pouts even more than usual. The only consolation is that towards the end you get to see the results of failed cloning attempts; looking at screwed-up copies of Hsu Chi is pretty funny.

For all my bashing of Hsu, though, perhaps the worst thing is that the film occasionally gets serious and tries to say something insightful about the nature of love, only to undercut these "deep observations" with an ending that seems to imply (forget SEEMS, it practically comes right out and says it)that looks are all that really matters.

Despite the gun-laden poster, the action is rare and generally not very exciting. The whole film, in fact, has a very shoddy and cheap feeling when compared to the season's other big-budget offerings; this makes it even more surprising that the occasional special effects are pretty well-done. There is one scene that would be unforgiveable in its blatant stealing from The Matrix- if it weren't for the fact that it actually looks a bit better than The Matrix. Still, it looks like most of the budget was concentrated into a few short segments.

All in all, For Bad Boys Only is at least not too boring. It's funny and "wacky," but the "what the HELL?" laughs were probably not what they were going for. But then again, it's not much less likely than any other guess.