Working Class

Tagline: Hui and Hark at their comedic best… Review by Neo: Before the fame of Once Upon A Time in China series, Tsui Hark was an actor and also a comedic director. With a glance of his face, Hark have that laughable face about him that makes him so likable and funny to watch. Despite not being in the same generation as most fans of Sam Hui, Neo have always enjoyed his movies and singing. His love songs have become legendary and thus he is proclaimed as the God of Songs. Apparently Hui used to sing at Hong Kong University before he became a big star, where my mother noted seeing him in real person and being chased by numerous people. What's good about Working Class is that the comedic moments is absolutely timeless and the theme of working class people is always a feature in all Hui Brothers movies. Working Class is ultimately a good little funny movie to stand alongside Tsui Hark's impressive resume and it also helps to have the beauty of Joey Wong in the mix.

Sam Hui is a big star in the 70s and 80s and his collaboration with Tsui Hark dates back to the highly entertaining and commercially successfully Aces Goes Places series. That is why it remains why this film is so little known in both respective resumes. Hui is a natural working class actor and his wide eyed look is absolutely suited for comedy. While, it will be difficult to imagine Sam Hui pulling off a dramatic performance, his brother Michael Hui is without doubt the real actor in the family. Here he plays himself and it is so often seen in his collaboration with his brothers, like Private Eyes. He may never win any awards for acting, but there is something about Sam that allows him to eludes this likable image and strong screen presence.

Tsui Hark is an interesting director to look at; his films always have this certainly uniqueness about it that makes him one of the best in HK. In the 80s, his films are more experimental and 1995's The Blade all but confirmed that. As of recently, Hark have been out of form, with a slight bouncing back in Seven Swords and his last year's part in Triangle. It is sad that Hark, no longer makes social comedy like Working Class and it is all the more disappointing when you realise that he was once associated with such classic works. As noted above, Hark have a natural comic face and not unlike Ricky Hui, it remains a mystery how little these lads need to do in order to create some sort of humour. In addition, Hark looks like Old Master Q, perhaps it is a reason why he directed the 2001's Old Master Q, starring Cecilia Cheung and Nickolas Tse.

Moving on to Joey Wong, without a further word to say, Neo absolutely adores her and who can forget her looks and radiating screen beauty in A Chinese Ghost Story series. An almost perfect face, good enough body, Wong is certainly an apple of the current reviewer's eyes. Then again, here Wong is just playing her usual role as a rich girl pretending to be poor without needing to do much, either than look pretty and being an effective eye candy. Funny short guy Teddy Robin also appears as one of the sidekicks and there is no doubt that Eric Tsang took a leaf out of Teddy's acting style in some stage of his industrious career.

All in all, Working Class is a fun little attempt at commenting on working class people in a playful manner. Tsui Hark, Sam Hui and Joey Wong have all since gone on to better works, but this little reunion is fun enough to sustain the audience attention. With that being said, it is a shame that they didn't make more movies like this, but it is difficult to say if today's audience can still accept this type of comedy. Perhaps, Neo is just an outdated person, but he just loves having fun and doesn't really care what generation it is from. Working Class is ultimately a movie about people and if Tsui Hark's face doesn't leave a smile on your face, then it is almost a certainty that Joey Wong will… (Neo 2008)

I rate it 8/10

• www.thehkneo.com

sam hui plays a factory worker who falls in love unknowingly with the boss's daughter. on their first date he vows never to marry a rich girl. some tight directing from an early tsui hark. a couple songs (including one of sam hui's). enjoyable, but not the funniest that i've seen. 6/10.

This is a pretty amusing comedy drama starring Sam Hui, Hark Tsui and Teddy Robin Kwan. Here, a factory worker falls in love with his boss' daughter, but later vows never to marry a wealthy girl. What follows are some interesting elements of friendship being tested, fun sarcastic humor and a rather suspenseful boxing match that puts some exciting action into the film.

It's quite a good 80s movie from Hong Kong.

Grade B

I would compare this one to something from Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Michael Curtiz or even to Three Stooges. I know it's not really one of the best Hark's films but still it's very rich and fluid in structure with great social commentary (that also strangely hearkens back to that lacking capitalistic feel of the 80's in America). I think that Tsui Hark definitely has done much more memorable film than a lot of commercial HK films of that time and even now like absolutely forgettable Love On Diet or Shaolin Soccer. Since late 80's when i saw Working Class first time it became quite supporting film for me over the years, because already at the beginning this movie shows us how life can be pretty unrighteous and hard to get through but at the end we learn that man can find the meaning of life even in the most imponderable and trivial places and really be happy, so it was kinda inspirational. It has many reinvented old-fashioned classic scenes with that beautiful & typical Tsui Hark twists that i really love but may not appeal to everyone, but that's OK, though, i'm really glad that this film fairly grew up to the well-deserved status as a true classic of the 80's.