Hong Kong’s top triad leader Hung appoints his gay son Georgie (Wu) to be his successor before he dies. But Hung’s loyal right-hand man Cheung mistook his roommate Sam (Pop superstar Eason Chan) as Georgie instead. Fearing that his sexual preference may be revealed, the real Georgie agrees to let Sam be “Big Brother” while he plays second fiddle. However, Hung’s rival Chow (Fung) still holds a grudge against his deceased enemy and will do anything to become the next Big Boss by killing Georgie—or is it Sam?

A wonderful mix of mistaken identity, tongue-in-cheek dialogue, star-studded cameos, and trademark Hong Kong action, ENTER THE PHOENIX is both a soaring gender-bender and a charming homage to Korea’s gangster comedies.

Review: Hong Kong actor Stephen Fung makes his full directorial debut with a different take on the well-trod triad film genre. In Enter the Phoenix, Daniel Wu plays a reluctant successor to a crime family who is openly gay. This premise gives Fung the freedom to delve broadly into comedy, drama and action. There is a little bit of everything here including a dramatic cameo by Yuen Biao. Yet the blending of these elements is too disparate with watered-down results and minimal action.

In a brief non-action role, Yuen Biao plays an aging triad leader in Hong Kong who dies, leaving the business in the hands of his gay son Georgie (Daniel Wu). Yuen's number two man, Cheung (Law Kar-ying), heads to Thailand to pick him up, but mistakes Georgie for his roommate Sam (Eason Chan). Sam readily steps into the position as head cheese that Georgie is reluctant to fill. Cheung and his son are the only two gang members who know that Georgie happens to be gay and for fear that the men will not accept this, they try to keep it hidden. But it's only a matter of time before the truth about who and what the real Georgie is comes out. This becomes all the more certain when Julie (Karen Mok), the daughter of a rival gang leader, falls for an indifferent Georgie while Sam, who is pretending to be gay, has fallen for her. Making matters worse, the rival gang leader's number two man (Stephen Fung) has an old grudge against Georgie's family and attempts to discredit and eventually kill him.

It shouldn't be hard to tell just from its title and promotional art that Enter the Phoenix is a misguided feature. The title sounds like the premise for a movie about battling martial artists stranded in the desert after their plane crashes. The artwork plays up the big names involved, but leaves everything else to the imagination. The premise is actually a little too sophisticated for typical Hong Kong fare. It might have worked on a romantic and dramatic level in the hands of Wong Kar-wai, or on a comedic level with Stephen Chow, or as an actioner from Johnnie To. But Stephen Fung unwisely tries to do it all.

To be sure, the cinematography is excellent, the production values are slick, and the score continues to rely on heavy synthesizer work, but is better than usual. The action scenes are nicely constructed, but are in short supply and there are only two martial arts battles of note, both featuring Daniel Wu. First, Wu takes on thugs in a narrow alley and for the big finish he takes on Stephen Fung. Anyone hoping that Karen Mok continues to work on her screen fighting after So Close will be disappointed with her non-action and rather generic role. The action editing flows nicely during these scenes with takes lasting just long enough to get a sense that the stunt actors are doing more than just making single swipes in front of the camera. Wirework is misused in a Romeo Must Die fashion with leaps and kicks unnecessarily exaggerated. It's not poorly done, just inappropriate for the setting. Because of the limited fighting and its lack of creativity, there isn't much for action buffs to get excited about.

While on the topic of what's inappropriate, Fung takes what could have been a funny or challenging exploration of homophobia in organized crime straight into the toilet. He does this with a series of drawn-out and crude sexual gags that fall flat. To his credit, Wu does give his character a touch of humanity. His troubled relationship with his father as played by Yuen Biao could have made for a great film all by itself. Yet the usual, broad Cantonese comedy creeps in unchecked and we end up with enough cheap sexual gags and gay stereotypes to offend viewers of almost any persuasion.

Enter the Phoenix is not a bad directorial debut for Fung, just overly-ambitious. It tries to satisfy too many different tastes and suffers as a result. It doesn't excel in any area, but does show Fung's potential as a filmmaker willing to step out of genre boundaries.

Hong Kong movies (with the exception of a few films like Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together) have not been known for treating gay characters well. Usually, they are painted with the broad swishy brush of stereotype. Thankfully, Stephen Fung manages to step past most of those potholes. While there are a couple incidents of groan-inducing Wong Jing-esque hamminess -- most notably from a short cameo by Sam Lee -- the character of Georgie himself is treated well. Yes, he's gay, but ultimately, he's a human being -- and that is why I think Enter the Phoenix works. It doesn't necessarily depend on Georgie being gay, but the orientation does add something to the movie.

Unfortunately, like many Hong Kong comedies, Enter the Phoenix seems to throw a bit too much into the mix. Besides the main plot, there are also several side stories, such as one dealing with Karen Mok's character falling for Georgie and trying to "convert" him. Bits like this are charming enough, but I would have liked to see more time dedicated to the story proper. Ultimately, the main characters (Stephen Fung's in particular) feel a little under-developed. There are quite a few cameos from other big names like Jackie Chan, Nicholas Tse and Sammi Cheng, and is as the case with a lot of these star-packed pictures, everyone seems to have to get their time in the spotlight, and the movie as a whole suffers a bit as a result.

Even so, I did enjoy Enter the Phoenix. While it didn't feature gut-busting hilarity, there are quite a few parts that generated laughs, such as Law Kar-Wing's cursing in English repeatedly and Eason Chan's equally laughable attempts at catching the "gangsta mack" style. While I didn't really care too much for the characters, they were all pretty likeable -- even the "bad guys" like Michael Chan came off as decent in the end. There are even a couple of decent action scenes. Enter the Phoenix isn't a perfect movie by any means, but it's a fine start to Stephen Fung's directorial career.