[KFCC] La Brassiere Review

Story: In a desperate attempt to create an original bra and leap ahead of the competition, a renowned brassiere company decides to break the mold and hire two male designers to add unconventionality and uniqueness to their project team. Johnny (Lau Ching Wan) and Wayne (Louis Koo) are placed with the burden of joining up with head designer, Lena (Gigi Leung), in creating the "Ultimate Bra" within a span of three months. With their libido and hormones running wild in a office full of beautiful women, can Johnny and Wayne stick to their guns and concentrate enough to not fall in love with the president of the company, Samantha (Carina Lau) and Lena respectively? Or will pandemonium reign as they wear bras and figure out what it is to truly make a product that embraces the breast of the woman physically and the heart of females symbolically?

Review: "I am the bra commander!"

That's something I personally would have said if I was one of the stars in this film. But of course, I have nothing on Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo, some of the coolest actors working in the Hong Kong film industry today. Cool enough might I add, to star in such a ridiculous, eccentric and irregular slapstick comedy such as "La Brassiere." But in all actuality, "La Brassiere" has something I haven't seen in a film such in a long time: Spirit and affection.

Though the premise and the cover picture may tell you otherwise, the central focus of this film is a love story that wraps around two men who change over a small course of time from egocentric womanizers to sympathetic males who realize what it takes to love a woman and to provide the warmth needed for understanding and harmony. For what seems like a frivolous and superficial film on the surface becomes a movie of true grit and aspiration for working a clichéd Hollywood plot into an original comedy about opposite sexes attempting to figure one another out.

One of the highlights of the film and probably the most trendy of all scenes is when the women of the office have a crack at giving Johnny and Wayne the perception of what it is like being a woman and wearing a bra in their everyday life. Heading through a series of work out routines through a gym in the most awkward of ways, Johnny and Wayne sport pretty, colorful and uncomfortable bras filled with fruit produce and water balloons. Naturally, silliness ensues and this becomes the beginning of Johnny and Wayne's adventure into a fun filled and epic journey of struggle and passion in the comprehension the female sex.

Carina Lau did an exceptional job as the cold hearted president of the company, but the true gem of this picture is Gigi Leung and her beautiful and captivating portrayal of Lena. It's so easy to fall in love with her, I tell you. Watching her blossom from films like "Full Throttle" and "Those Were the Days," it is amazing to see this strawberry patched, heaven sky faced beauty grace the screen in tank tops and polka dot skirts. There is even a touching scene where Louis Koo's Wayne has an epiphany about the similarities of the bra and the embraces of a man while holding onto Lena in a surprising and affection manner.

Though Wan's and Koo's antics are many and close between, the more dramatic and serious moments are actually tender and stirring, providing a real impression of sensitivity for its subject matter. As mentioned earlier, the film has some true heart and it's totally surprising to see a film such as this take itself seriously and stray away from the path of no-brainer comedies. I have to give it up for directors Patrick Leung and Hing-Ka Chan for making an honest to goodness, heartfelt comedy that uses the universal themes of male and female relationships and setting it up within an unlikely backdrop of a brassiere company.