Cop Shop Babes (2001)

Despite a suggestive title and a poster featuring bikini-clad inspectors, Cop Shop Babes offers more talk than girls-with-guns action. Opening scenes of the ladies thrashing wrongdoers quickly cede to chatter and soon comedy sequences become the film's scene-stealers instead.

The plot kicks off with cops Beer (Chan) and Satay (Lam) transferred to a new police station staffed with a curvaceous group of colleagues. Their new teammates are the elite Cop Shop Babes squad headed by Madam Lui (Lau) and, not unexpectedly, the lads feel an immediate need to act improperly.

The boys note that Babes -- computer wiz PC, Bony, AV-King, Dynamite, visiting US cop Katie Goodman (Alien) and one other lady -- all live in a house together. Deducing that they must therefore be lesbians, the lads decide to bend the ladies' way towards straightness.

But Satay and Beer aren't the only ones eyeing up the women. Mad bomber Fireball (Ho) calls Madam Lui to request his mate Rhino be released from police custody, threatens terrorist attacks and adds that he too wants a romp with the Cop Shop Babes. Madam Lui immediately springs her team into action, receiving assistance on the case from bomb expert and lovelorn cannibal Professor Biting (Wong Jing).

A nifty voice swap pre-credits sets the movie's fluffy tone and it's lightweight comedy and police business thereafter. Small touches like a killer identified by mainland perfume keep the production pleasingly off-kilter for a fluffy hour-and-a-half's light amusement, with absurdities peaking in a unique LSD-charged attempted sex scene starring Cheung Tat-ming.

Production standards are of the run of the mill low-budget variety, efficient in delivery and featuring some pleasing locations at Murray House and the Academy of Medicine. The few action sequences generally lack excitement, however, and the soundtrack from Lincoln Lo features arrangements similar to music in director Chang's Sex and Zen III and Twilight Garden. Actors are nonetheless fairly enthusiastic throughout, with screen appearances as lightweight as the script. Lead actresses aren't granted enough action to stand out, though the E-Lin is notable for her horrendous dubbing. Lei Fei puts in another classy turn as Fireball's assistant, though I would have preferred seeing her cast as the Babes' chief adversary, and Wong Jing infuses a Hannibal Lector-like role with a Hong Kong cinephile touch.

Note: The subtitling unfortunately strips out Cantonese items of significance, ranging from movie title The Untold Story to the nickname for Kathy Tsui's character.

Credits:

Directed by Aman Chang
Screenplay: Szeto Cheuk-moon
Director of photography: Joe Chan
Editor: Angie Lam
Starring Eason Chan, Jerry Lam, Carina Lau, Cheung Tat-ming, Lee Sana-san, Karel Wong, Cathy Tsui, Rachel Fu, E-Lin, Lei Fei and Tony Ho