The Royal Scoundrel

1991 [CANTONESE]

Action / Comedy / Crime

4
IMDb Rating 5.3/10 10 161 161

Plot summary

Beach Boy is a maverick cop whose unorthodox and incompetent ways are frowned upon by his uptight superiors. His inept partner Mr. Chow isn't much help, and is more concerned with taking care of his many, many children. On a routine stakeout, Beach Boy and Mr. Chow rescue a lovely Mainland girl named Ah Yuk, who was previously abused by her criminal uncle.

Director

Johnnie To Photo
Johnnie To

Top cast

Tony Chiu Wai Leung Photo
Tony Chiu Wai Leung as Beach Boy
Waise Lee Photo
Waise Lee as Lee Nam
Chung Lin Photo
Chung Lin as Yuk's Stepfather
Wan-On Shing Photo
Wan-On Shing
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
824.66 MB
1280*720
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds ...
1.49 GB
1920*1080
Cantonese 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
24 fps
1 hr 29 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by amerh 6 / 10

Routine Hong Kong Police comedy, with early roles for future Hong Kong Stars Leung and Chien-Lien.

Fans of director Johnnie To will be disappointed by this early effort, a let down after his direction of "The Big Heat" (and the Johnnie To produced "A Moment Of Romance"). The film starts as a typical Buddy Cop comedy. The plot does not make a lot of sense, but then audiences may not have been expecting much. Most Hong Kong movies from that period play on many registers at once, comedy, romance and action. That's what made some of these films so original and exciting. Unfortunately Royal Scoundrel is not necessarily strong in any of the areas. The comedy is silly and insipid , the romance is cheesy and under-developed, and the action scenes are mostly disappointing, in particular the finale. Still the general production and direction are of good quality, and the movie passes pleasantly. A little fun, if ultimately forgettable.NG Man-Tat has played the role of the kind-hearted but ineffective flunky cop many times before and after this movie. Here, he just goes through the motions. Tony Leung overacts and is often obnoxious, never funny. The role definitely does not suit him well. He seems to be still learning his craft in his early films- see how badly he handles his role here and in many of his early films (eg the very weak Fantasy Romance). Waise Lee is professional as usual, cast as the corrupt cop. Wu Chien-Lien is very cute in one of her earliest movies. She is so lovely at that young age, the camera loves her despite the funny glasses and hairstyles the filmmakers try on her. She saved the movie for me.
Reviewed by Leofwine_draca 4 / 10

Weak comedy

I wasn't really a fan of this typical Hong Kong comedy, which stars Tony Leung in a role which seems tailor made for Stephen Chow, although even with his presence I don't think it would have been much cop. Leung plays a flamboyant, womanising cop who seems to have to look after a million or so kids until a beautiful woman appears in his life. The comedy is routine, the laughs are thin on the ground and it's very hard to really know what this is all about because there's very little going on. Leung does have a natural charisma, but the script doesn't give him a chance to shine as he did in the likes of HARD-BOILED.
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