Men Don't Cry

Men Don’t Cry (TVB, 21 episodes) is the first and (probably will be the only) TVB drama that I watched in full in 2007…

Men Don’t Cry Synopsis (from Wikipedia)
With the support of the head of the Police Authority, Guangzhou’s top villain Ho Kei-Kin (Dayo Wong) has been riding roughshod over everyone around him. He is so manipulative that he has explored every possible means in his fight for a house with the buck-toothed owner Ling Yuk Tsui (Cecilia Yip). Tsui is happy to have met the upright and honorable Wong Fei Hung (Lam Kar Wah). The pair quickly falls in love and even feels ready for marriage. Interested in stirring up trouble, Kin tries to recruit more students for his kung-fu school by portraying himself as the hero who has defeated one of the Ten Tigers of Guangdong Wong Kei-Ying. For the sake of fairness, Hung is resolved to have a contest with Kin. Unfortunately, Kin manages to make Hung give in with the help of the ancestral tablet of his late father. Thinking that he is a hopeless coward, Tsui decides to break off her engagement to Hung. Kin quickly grabs the chance and begins to woo Tsui. Tsui agrees to transfer her house to Kin after much persuasion from him. Kin shows his true colors as soon as he has secured the property. Tsui is left homeless and has to put up at Po Chi Lam, the martial arts club set up by Hung. Kin has lost his power and soon becomes an object of contempt and hatred. With nowhere else to go, he decides to turn to Hung and asks to be his apprentice. Hung has tried his best to bring out the human side of Kin, for which he has received a lot of criticism from others. Despite Hung’s support, Kin does not repent and behaves even worse than before, leaving Po Chi Lam in a state of total chaos…

Cast:
Dayo Wong as Ho Kei Kin
Lam Ka Wah as Wong Fei Hung
Cecilia Yip as Ling Yuk Tsui
Hui Siu Hung as So Fei
Charmaine Li as Jenny
Vivien Yeo as Ling Yuk Bek


My comments
Right, it’s TVB’s 40th anniversary this year and they chose Men Don’t Cry as one of their anniversary series. It had lots of promotion and buzz before airing but once it aired, it failed in rating and even earned a lot of criticisms/complaints for being bad, offensive and crude (anyways HK viewers complain about everything so it’s no big deal…). Is it really that bad? I have to admit that I watched it for the sake of Dayo Wong since I worship him like God (ha!). Compared to his previous dramas with TVB between Justice Sung II, War of Genders and To Catch The Uncatchable, Men Don’t Cry is indeed the weakest. It’s still funny and entertaining but not as witty as the others maybe because the producer is different this time. To fully enjoy the drama, you have to be very fluent in Cantonese and aware of what they are parodying/referencing/making fun of (Ong Bak, Mission Impossible, Prison Break comes to mind).

Villain Kin is indeed very evil in the beginning. When I have a little sympathy for him when he shows a little human side, he will then do something bad to make me fume. When he turns good, he becomes too sacrificial and too good to be true. Wong Fei Hung is humorous with his straight face telling long stories to bore people...haha! The love relationship between the main characters is really not deep. Kin and Chui did not have any intimate moment at all after Kin scammed Chui and since then carry this love-hate relationship. But I really wonder when Kin started to love Chui. Wong Fei Hung and Chui didn’t have anything at all; it was one-sided from Wong Fei Hung. It is somewhat unexpected at how this triangular love relationship ended. I think the ending is original but it is disappointing if you’re a sucker for happy conclusions. But the fortuneteller said that Kin and Chui are a fated couple for 3 lives so…Also, there are a lot of characters that are left out at the ending that makes you wonder what happen to them…

Performance wise, everyone is doing a fair job. I didn’t find anyone spectacular. Overall, this series is entertaining to watch, just don’t have high expectations…

* Themesong of the drama (haha...Dayo changed the Wong Fei Hung theme with his wacky lyrics!)