A well-meaning and suitably structured screenplay from Chan Hing-Kar is never elevated. At points it seems like Lam and Chan are content with creating a cheap comedy but does gets in the odd comedic jab or two (especially in regards to the hooker's names and some neat verbal puns). But being dramatic in structure sinks this ship at the same time as friendship does. Fiction recovers, not the creators of it. Going into the movie-world, the nudity is so in your face initially it's all a bit uneasy, not sexy and very much the point that, the narrative really does scare us in another regard.

Because the pace at which Andy and John advance towards success is awfully quick and we're dealing with a 2 hour movie here! With the odd Dante Lam visual trickery and noises on the soundtrack to make us aware of his not always successful merger of storytelling and style, one of the bigger problems is finding any character anchor in Naked Ambition. It's friendship already in place as well as relationships when we meet all of them (no, a photo montage doesn't clear up loose ends) and Chan Hing-Kar's screenplay never uses the running time to go back and advance on setup. Instead we go on and on. It all also reeks of being rather questionable. Mostly focusing on Andy and John as advancing businessmen that has no real hesitance about entering the porn industry, never is that biz painted as anything but either wacky or featuring hookers with heart. The downside, the actual degradation could've been an examination amidst all this so indeed, a serious issue is exploited in favour of commercial cinema in a way that doesn't sit well (it could have). While Andy and John never turn into Bob Guccionne's of Hong Kong, seeing as Naked Ambition has greater goals you can't help but to feel a bit insulted.

Even if keeping it all within a comedy range with unashamedly low gags (Josie Ho's character is referred to as the Kenny G of hookers. THAT is funny), the film is decidedly low on stuff that tickles even. We all watch as the stuff is represented in an outrageous way and sometimes more low-key but the belief from the filmmakers that being frank sexually gets them comedic bonus points is one of many misguided choices throughout. As much as it wants to be a getting to know and feel your characters-piece, the subsequent expected structural dip into the life meaning of it all doesn't exactly provoke you to shout out "embarrassing!" but it's effort wasted when nothing is well setup. Our leads are some of the better cinema presences out of the pop stars/models/whathaveyou but neither Louis or Eason are anything but steered and therefore, it's yet another element of Naked Ambition that is stale. No, the rise, fall and mending of friendships created with cinema depth remains nothing but a dream for this flick, however naked Dante Lam and Chan Hing-Kar's ambitions were.

The film has Louis Koo as Hong Kong's king of porn relating his story to a reporter played by Bey Logan. After being fired from his "legitimate" magazine job, Koo (along with his buddy Eason Chan) decides to publish a sort of tourist's guide to hookers in HK. Though things are rough at first, their magazine soon becomes the top seller in HK, thanks to cover girls like Tess Tickle (played by usual tough-girl Josie Ho in a nice role reversal), who specializes in the "hot and cold" technique of oral pleasure. Both Louis and Eason soon begin falling for some of the girls they are writing about, which leads to trouble with both their girlfriends and between themselves, especially after a hard-nosed cop (Danny Lee, in his one millionth stint as an officer in a film) begins cracking down on the local sex trade.

As I said before, Naked Ambition is really good for the first half of its' running time. The characters are interesting, there's some nice comedy and the directing is tight. However, the directors seemed too intent on driving the film's message (having everything is nothing without having true friends) home, and stretch out and exaggerate things way too much in the second half. There's nothing horrible happening here, but things could have definitely been tightened up a bit.

It would have also been nice to see a bit more actual T&A -- this is a Cat III movie about porn, after all. There are a few sex scenes, but they're pretty sedate; in one of them, the actors are fully clothed. I can understand that the film-makers may have not wanted to make what might be considered a porno film themselves -- but it would have been nice to see a little more "production value". Still, Koo and Chan do make a pair of likeable leads, and that (along with good performances from most of the supporting cast as well) is what ultimately makes Naked Ambition a film worth your time.