Happy Ding Dong: Quick Takes

Contemporary remake of Some Like It Hot, the classic Jack Lemmon/Tony Curtis/Marilyn Monroe comedy directed by Billy Wilder. To have comic legend Michael Hui head one such remake isn't the worst of ideas but Happy Din Don is a mimic, not much of its own production. Hui adds some decent Hong Kong craziness of his own, including many of his comedy mannerisms, Chong Fat as a villain lifted straight out of Live And Let Die and some extra scenarios Billy Wilder didn't even include. Unfortunately, we don't get a superb male comic duo here as Hui has chosen otherwise composer Michael Lai as his sidekick and he doesn't even become the second fake woman of the show! In fact, Hui goes about at that alone and directs at a pace with the goal to feature most aspects from Some Like It Hot, sacrificing focus in the process. No fault of Cherie Chung but there's certainly Marilyn Monroe like impact through her performance because again, Happy Din Don hopes to impress by copying and it only generates fair entertainment, not the high flying production Michael Hui obviously wanted the film to be as well. Wong Ching, Wong Man-Si and Bill Tung (playing the Osgood character to great effect) co-stars. Cameos by Anita Mui and Ricky Hui.