Love Me, Love My Money (2001)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fresh and Exciting

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"Love Me, Love My Money" ("Yau Ching Yam Shui Baau") is basically your average romantic-comedy, but still it is quite a good movie, especially because it has a very good story, but better yet, it has an amazing ensemble of actors and actresses on the list.The story in "Love Me, Love My Money" is multi-millionaire Richard Ma (played by Tony Leung) returning to Hong Kong from New York and hooks up with his long time friend Tom (played by Ka Tung Lam). Richard breaks up with his money-obsessed girlfriend and she cleans out his apartment and managed to block all of his credit cards and report his ID card stolen, effectively rendering Richard stuck without money. Richard is a super stingy person and tries to save money everywhere he can, and being forced into buying late dinner for two ladies, Choi (played by Shu Qi) and Chloroform (played by Teresa Mak). Unable to pay for it, Richard have to borrow money from Choi. Things start to escalate as Richard's fate seems to be bound to Choi and they keep meeting one another in the most unlikely of places. Choi doesn't like Richard and thinks he is scum, while Richard is drawn to Choi's seemingly lack of greed for his wealth and fame.The story actually works out quite well, because it is believable and funny, and it is really helped along by some great hilarious situations and of course the great acting by Tony Leung and Shu Qi, but also helped well along the way by supporting actor Ka Tung Lam and actress Teresa Mak. There is such a great chemistry between Tony Leung and Shu Qi, as there also was in "Seoul Raiders", and they really work well together on the screen and compliment one another quite nicely. But also the feisty chemistry between Ka Tung Lam and Teresa Mak was really great and added a lot of charismatic flavor to the movie.Sure, "Love Me, Love My Money" is a fairly average run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, but it is just that one step ahead of most others in the same genre. So if you enjoy romantic comedies, then you definitely have to treat yourself to "Love Me, Love My Money", don't let a small fact like it is a Hong Kong movie or in Cantonese language scare you off. Movies are meant to be watched and enjoyed in their original language.I was surprised by this movie, and am quite glad that I purchased it from Amazon and added it to my collection. It is well deserving movie in any Hong Kong cinema aficionado's DVD collection.

When you're rich, it's hard to find out if someone loves you for who you are or they're enamored with your status and wealth. Richard in this story tries to clear the difference.Richard (Tony Leung) and Tom are friends and business associates. They are millionaires, but has hard time finding love. One day at a snake restaurant, they meet Choi (Shu Qi) and Chloroform, two girls who came to eat, but had to share the table. Later that night by coincidence, Richard and Tom meet Choi and Chloroform at a bar. They start to get acquainted with each other. Richard hides from Choi the fact that he's rich. He goes out of his way to make himself look ordinary, until Choi discovers Richard talking to Tom on a video talking about how Richard was pretending to be poorer than he is. Choi is furious, and decides to break up with Richard.In the end, Richard's attempt to make himself poor didn't matter. He was showing Choi a very good time only a millionaire can. So it was natural that Choi would fall for Richard. If Richard didn't show Choi good time, it's doubtful that he would have succeeded in getting Choi. So it seems that Richard wasn't 100% successful in cutting himself off from the influence of his own money.Wong Jin sticks to his lavish style where all the people who appears in his story looks like they're from high society. The story is as usual, geared to entertain, but this one, the focus was not so clear. Movie is of good quality, but the story is weak compared to other Wong Jin's movies.

Saw the film primarily because I'm in love with Shu Qi. To be honest, I don't think Chinese comedies "translate" well to Western audiences. I had a similar reaction to "Kung Fu Hustle" (although I thought this film was better). The acting, as well as humor is overly broad, and would be mocked had this been an American film because of it. As an American, it is surprising to see Tony Leung in a comedy, and many of the Chinese culture references (card games and bar games) went right over my head. In addition to Shu Qi, her sidekick, "Chloroform" played by Teresa Mak is also stunningly attractive. But in the scenes where she is standing next to Shu Qi, it is less obvious.A film for Shu Qi fans, but I'd say that's about it.

It would be hard to think of a film more predictable than "Love Me Love My Money," and yet it manages to be an enjoyable film, mainly because the characters look like they would be fun to hang out with. Tony Leung, who is an excellent actor and usually appears in serious films, hams it up as the stingy but handsome and charismatic billionaire, and manages some pretty funny lines. One gets the feeling that Shu Qi is playing herself, or at least an earlier version of herself, and she is good at it. Who would not want to know, or at least look at, such a beautiful and charming woman, even if she is rather slow to catch on to things, and her voice can be a little shrill? Theresa Mak is amusing and appealing as Shu Qi's vamp sidekick. The film slows down at the end with the obligatory montage of wistful looks, set to schmaltzy music, and the boring last scene, which is neither funny nor believable - either one would have sufficed.