Dummy Mommy Without A Baby
CAST

Miriam Yeung
Edison Chen
Niki Chow
Pauline Yam
Wyman Wong
Sammy Leung

ACTION
N/A
WRITER

Chan Wing-Sun
Chow Yin Han
Joe Ma

PRODUCER
Joe Ma
Ivy Kong
DIRECTOR

Joe Ma
Mak Kai Kwong

RATING
   Dummy Mommy Without A Baby
Dummy Mommy Without A Baby
AKA : Dummy Mummy Without A Baby
Year : 2001     Reviewer : Andrew Saroch

L.K. Fong (Yeung) and her good friend Dina are content workers at a busy Hong Kong advertising agency who manage to scrape through their work while avoiding confrontations with their waspish head of department Catherine. After her continual lack of punctuality, L.K. is given a final warning by Catherine and is threatened by dismissal if anything similar happens again. Unfortunately she accidentally sends a cartoonish e-mail about her employers around the department and incurs the wrath of Catherine who persuades laid back boss Wu (Chen) to dismiss her. Before this can happen though, L.K. devises an ingenious scheme to keep her job: pretend to be pregnant and take advantage of the work laws stating that pregnant women cannot be dismissed. L.K., ably supported by Dina, finds that an initial lie soon needs numerous others to support it and therefore convinces her workmates that the father has left her alone. This immediately gains the sympathy of Wu whose own parents divorced when he was young and who now feels the desire to help out this woman in need. As times goes on however, the myth of the pregnancy becomes harder to perpetuate and while L.K. undoubtedly becomes the inspiration of her workplace, the inevitable time of truth gets ever closer.

 

 

One of the recent comedy hits that have established Miriam Yeung as a bona fide box-office star, 'Dummy Mommy Without A Baby' creates the template that would be re-used for many of the films starring the popular actress - subtle romance, Yeung as the unappreciated female lead and a handsome male co-star. These conventions are already firmly in place even though Yeung has only enjoyed a relatively brief time in the limelight, though their use is not as restrictive as it may sound. The reason is that Yeung has always been blessed with capable directors; Joe Ma, Wilson Yip and Derek Chiu have all stamped their mark of quality on the productions that have been under their control. 'Dummy Mommy Without A Baby' is a farce comedy that never descends into the lack of control so common in the sub-genre and much of this is due to Joe Ma's overall mastery of the proceedings.

 

 

'Dummy Mommy Without A Baby' is not a laugh-out-loud comedy or the kind of wild ride that a star like Chow Sing Chi provides. Instead, the film is reliant on the gentle charm of its principle cast and the genuine warmth of the relationships therein. Miriam Yeung's screen persona is the perfect embodiment of this goal and, even in this earlier role, showing winning charisma and a useful chemistry with impressive co-star Niki Chow. Edison Chen is not usually seen as a successful cog in any film, but here the young star plays a more human role than usual, therefore adding the necessary romantic side to the plot. 'Dummy Mommy Without A Baby' does lack the natural spark that 'Love Undercover' and, to a certain extent, 'Dry Wood, Fierce Fire' had and is slightly rough around the edges. Nonetheless, it is still pleasing and inoffensive entertainment - by no means a bad combination.

Distributor : Mei Ah
Region : 0 (NTSC)
Running Time : 90 mins
Video :
First things first, this disc is a flipper - therefore halfway through the film you have to turn it over to watch the rest of the film. The print itself is ok although there is obvious pixellation especially visible in some dark scenes. This leads to some colour bleeding and blurring. Mostly though, this is a watchable print even though it is double-sided!
Audio :
5.1 Cantonese or Mandarin soundtracks with English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles (removable).
Extras :
None.
Notes :
N/A
Dummy Mommy Without A Baby
Dummy Mommy Without A Baby
BUY THE DVD
YesAsia.com
BUY THE VCD
YesAsia.com
BUY THE BLU-RAY
BUY THE OST