Lady Cop & Papa Crook

2008 [CANTONESE]

Action / Comedy / Crime / Thriller

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 30%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 30% · 250 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.3/10 10 356 356

Plot summary

A corrupt red oil kingpin enlists the aid of a female police officer to help find his son.

Director

Alan Mak Photo
Alan Mak

Top cast

Patrick Tam Photo
Patrick Tam as Donald Ng
Richie Jen Photo
Richie Jen as Gogo
Sammi Cheng Photo
Sammi Cheng as Senior Inspector Maureen Szeto Mo Lin
Kai Man Tin Photo
Kai Man Tin as Toto
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
877.17 MB
1280*714
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  
24 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds ...
1.54 GB
1920*1072
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles cn  
24 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds ...

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by DICK STEEL

A Nutshell Review: Lady Cop and Papa Crook

The success of the Infernal Affairs series, and high profile projects like Confession of Pain would have made Felix Chong and Alan Mak household names in the Hong Kong crime thriller genre. Their latest offering with Lady Cop and Papa Crook not only comes with a somewhat cheesy title (in English at least), but gone are the familiar gloom and doom that draped their more famous films as well.I guess it's always a big step to try and break out of your own shadow. This time round the duo played it quite straight with their story and direction, opting for simplicity and a series of light humour. But even then, this film got entrenched with its fair share of controversy before its recent release, especially since it's got to do with the trimming of its run time allegedly to have the whole deal sweetened for the Mainland Chinese market. which had pushed back its release date from sometime mid 2008, to now.You know, the same requirement about not having the righteous being put in bad light, especially if they're of honourable professions like the police. With Infernal Affairs, we know what hapened with the Andy Lau character that resulted in two different endings for different markets (Singapore unfortunately got the cop-out Chinese version because of our Speak Mandarin Campaign). Here, some six minutes got shaved, and I would suspect that it would have involved the second last scene of the film that resulted in a inexplicable fade-to-black, which could've involved some debatable who-shot-first kinda Han Solo predicament, and of course the very hurried way the film decided to wrap everything up.But I digress, and what could have happened in those six minutes was just my speculation which would be debunked should there be a release of the actual cut on DVD. In the past, the Chong-Mak partnership had brought on some memorable leading characters, almost all of whom are male, with themes like camaraderie and potential brotherhood forged should the protagonists not be on opposite sides of the law. Here, they throw a spanner in the works by having Hong Kong's Canto-pop queen Sammi Cheng flesh out one of the leads as Maureen Szetoh, an incredibly sassy female cop whom while is professional in her job, faces personal love life problems with her artist boyfriend of 10 years, and the ticking of her biological clock.Again having their lead characters on different sides of the law, her opposite number is played by Eason Chan, whose John Fok is a crime kingpin dealing in the illegal oil business traversing both Hong Kong and China. A transshipment of their goods went awry with the Chinese law enforcers on their tail, and this leads to bad debt, unhappy underlings, and worse, a kidnapping of his son in which the ransom is some cool 80 million dollars. In comes Maureen and her gang of Hong Kong police much against his wishes to assist in the cracking of the kidnapping case, which of course is a perfect stage set for some really sticky and sensitive encounters between crooks and cops.It is this tension between both sides that you could come to appreciate what both Felix Chong and Alan Mak were after. After all, how do you assist the cops in investigations if not to reveal who your enemies and friends are, and what more, to expose details of your illegal operations, laying everything down bare for the police to scrutinize? Other shades of brilliance also include how the police could be the largest "gangsters" around given their sheer manpower size and ability to work within the legal framework, though there are moments where the Fok's triad buddies could go around bureaucratic red tape in order to get things done. I sensed some dumbing down in the latter during the movie, which could have irked the Chinese censors, and effected some changes to the story.Attempts to humanize the characters were not spared, especially with a host of characters going about attending to their personal affairs in the midst of a high profile kidnapping case. And here's where the unexpected fun is too, with some sprinkling of comedy which I thought was a welcome departure from what could have been the usual deadpan, serious approach. With a Chong-Mak production, Chapman To is never far behind in a supporting role, and Eye In The Sky's Kate Tsui is still looking for a lead role given her cinematic outings to date after the said Yau Nai-Hoi helmed movie, has been supporting ones only.I would imagine the potential that Lady Cop and Papa Crook could have achieved if not for the forced re-writes to garner a slice from a larger pie, and it's still an enjoyable film once you recognize the effort put in by the writer-directors. Now to wait for the announcement that the DVD version would be the unadulterated one.
Reviewed by paul_haakonsen 5 / 10

A bland mixture of comedy and crime...

First of all I must say that the movie's English title, which is "Lady Cop & Papa Crook" was a mystery to me, because it made zero sense. And let's just be honest, it wasn't really an enticing movie title now, was it?But still, this being a Hong Kong movie, of course I would take the time to sit down and watch it. And also so because the movie had the likes of Sammi Cheng and Eason Chan on the cast list - huge names back in the day, especially if you are familiar with the Hong Kong cinema and music scene. It was, however, very nice to see the talented Chapman To make an appearance, despite being a mere supportive role.As it turns out then writers Alan Mak and Felix Chong came up with a storyline was that adequately enjoyable. It wasn't outstanding or particularly memorable, but it was sufficient for a single viewing. The movie wasn't great, but it was adequately watchable.For me, the storyline was just too mainstream and generic. It offered very little that hadn't already been seen in other movies, and it just felt like directors Felix Chong and Alan Mak were running on auto-pilot.There were some fun enough moments scattered throughout the course of the movie, but as a whole, then "Lady Cop & Papa Crook" (aka "Dai sau cha ji lui") just didn't deliver where it mattered.My rating for this 2008 movie lands on a mediocre five out of ten stars. It is by no means a bright star in the history of Hong Kong cinema, nor is it part of its darkest moments either. If you are new to the Hong Kong cinema, a movie such as "Lady Cop & Papa Crook" would suffice.
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