A cowardly action film star (Tony Leung) sets out to regain his family’s respect by helping an Interpol agent (Jordon Chan), whose brain has been reduced to that of a four-year old, stop a criminal (Elvis Tsui) from unleashing a super SARS virus.

The man cannot be stopped. Hong Kong’s number one schlockmeister is back with The Spy Dad, a hackneyed spoof of Hollywood action films that is just as dysfunctional as the family portrayed in the film.

Tony Leung stars as Jones Bon, a leading Hong Kong action film star who is good enough onscreen to end up being the first Asian selected to portray James Bond in MGM’s long-running franchise. The only problem is that in real life he’s a coward. His ex-wife Isabel (Candy Yu) has left him for this reason, he’s lost the respect of his daughter Cream (Gillian Chung), his freeloading brother-in-law (Chapman To) has lost his memory, and he ends up stuck with an Interpol agent (Jordon Chan) whose suffering from a degenerative brain virus that has left him with the mind of a four-year old. Despite his fears, Jones attempts to win his ex-wife back, come to terms with his daughter’s dating life, and save the world from the dastardly villain Lungyi (Elvis Tsui) and his deviant henchman Dr. Donno (Eric Kot), who sports a hand that transforms into various sharp implements.

Just as convoluted as it sounds, the film unfolds in a jumbled mess with endless visual spoofs from films like The Matrix Reloaded, X-Men, Terminator, and the James Bond franchise. There’s also an extended homage to Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon, comedic references to local topics such as SARS and blockbuster film Infernal Affairs, an oddball assortment of characters, and a fair amount of tasteless humor involving mostly sexual innuendo. Wong spit out random scenes revolving around several subplots that gives the film a very off-center feel. At one point we’re following Jordon Chan breaking into a secret lair washed in florescent lighting as he blasts away with twin machine guns and at another moment Gillian Chung is at school pining for the affections of her would-be boyfriend as played by Edison Chen.

The cast is notable for having an even spread of former, established and emerging Hong Kong talent. For all his faults, Wong Jing generally picks winners and The Spy Dad is no different, even if the scattered nature of the story makes their roles less than satisfactory. Tony Leung easily slips into the clueless dad role and also doles out a decent, if unnecessary parody of Bruce Lee. Old school kung fu buffs should recognize his ex-wife. Candy Yu starred in over a dozen swordplay films like Buddha’s Palm (1982). All I’ll say is that Candy looked attractive then and time has been extremely kind to her as witnessed in a nod to Ursula Andress’s infamous bikini scene in Dr. No. Gillian Chung, one half of pop-duo Twins belts out a few token kung fu moves in yet another minor bid, after Twins Effect, to inherit Hong Kong’s illustrious action babe mantle. None of the remaining cast have much to offer except for Eric Kot who delivers a zesty mix of Dr. Strangelove, Mr. Han (from Enter the Dragon), and Dr. No all in one. He easily outshines Elvis Tsui who supposedly plays the lead villain.

Like most of Wong Jing’s films, The Spy Dad is immensely derivative, enormously disjointed, and highly disposable. But it also follows his trend of tossing out enough scantily clad bodies, warped comedy, and mindless action set pieces set to the rhythm of a video game beat to successfully tune out and indulge in some gratuitous fluff.

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