"My Hero" was, even for a Stephen Chow film, pretty bizarre. Not laugh-out-loud-what-the-hell bizarre, just baffling bizarre. Like an unfortunate number of HK films, it suffered from the problem of throwing too many genres together for anything to work--like taking "Goodfellas" and trying to combine it with "Ace Ventura". I think this was probably filmed just when Stephen was moving out of more serious action/dramas and into his nonsense comedies, which probably would explain the mix-and-match feeling of the film. Stephen plays a waiter obsessed with comic books about cool-looking Triad gangsters. Through events that he stumbles into, he ends up getting a chance to live out of his dream of becoming a ganster, but it's a rough fit from the start and he doesn't really have the ruthless heart he needs for the job. It all leads to very bizarre moments like a love song playing during a bloody shoot-out, where Stephen runs around mugging it up and pretending to fire his gun, still living in his dream world where being a Triad member is all fun and games--at least until towards the end of the film when his new friends start dying and his own life is at stake.
There are some very weird slashy dynamics going on, particular the triangle between Stephen/Shing Fui-On (Big Sillyhead!)/Wilson Lam. There's also a Stephen/Wilson/Ann Bridgewater triangle that's pretty interesting and reminiscent of the Stephen/Ann/Jacky Cheung triangle in "Curry and Pepper". But there's too much going on and not a whole lot of time for any of these relationships to develop very much (though the scene in the parking lot with Stephen and a drunk Shing Fui-On, discussing names for Fui-On's new baby, is definitely squee!-inducing).
In the end, not really a film I'd recommend except to die-hard Stephen fans. It's too much of a mess as a film to be very satisfying.
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: C+ Not a great movie, saved only by some decent performances from the lead actors.
Droolworthiness: A- Stephen looks good and is a total tease--there's an infinitely rewindable bathtub scene that manages not to reveal anything though it gets awfully close. Wilson Lam's not too bad to look at, either.
Slashiness: B+ Lots of possibilities, though not really developed in depth.
Action: B- Wilson Lam's not a bad fighter and he gets in a couple good (although short) action scenes. The finale is pretty tense as well.
Partners in crime: Shing Fui-On, Stephen Chow, Wilson Lam
