PR Girls (1998)

In Hong Kong, 'PR Girls' are hostesses and call girls in nightclubs and some Karaoke joints, and that's all this film's about. The boss of a sleazy nightclub asks his mamasan to make the club the 'wildest ever'. Rival establishments across the border are stealing his customers and he's not pleased. Managing her team of escorts, and one newcomer, mamasan Julia spends the rest of the movie working toward this task. But all except Ah Kwan (Angela Tong) have to deal with relationship problems and difficult customers. Lead PR personality Baby (Grace Lam) gets caught up with a client-turned-boyfriend and a Hello Kitty-crazed drug-fiend bachelor (Lai Yiu-cheung), Matilda (Sherming Yiu Lok-yi) becomes terrified of sex after a lengthy encounter with a gweilo customer, and Julia (Liz Kong) has ongoing tiffs with her man (Moses Chan).

At Cat IIB it seems stuck between going for all-out sleaze or aiming toward a more subdued affair about the women's situations. Either of these would be ideal but unfortunately, PR Girls does neither and the plot that's left is tedious. Much of the screen time is devoted to Grace Lam's 'Baby', without whose opening scene and flesh may well have been a minor character. Other quality actresses like Sherming Yiu Lok-yi and Angela Tong Ying-ying are, however, inexplicably sidelined. The high point is Lai Yiu-cheung's madcap role, which still didn't really carry the movie for me.

PR Girls hand-painted billboard pasted up on the Imperial Cinema

Credits:

Directed by Matt Chow
Starring: Grace Lam Nga-sze, Liz Kong, Angela Tong Ying-ying, Moses Chan, Sherming Yiu Lok-yi, Lai Yiu-cheung and Matt Chow