I don’t often see a film that infuriates me but ‘In Between Loves’ had that very effect on me. On paper, a comic thriller with Alfred Cheung, Maggie Cheung and a host of familiar Hong Kong stars should be a surefire winner. ‘In Between Loves’, however, is a monumental disappointment.
Hapless taxi driver Chang divides his time between picking up fares, associating with his fellow drivers at the pub and lusting after beautiful news reporter Jenny Tung. When a serial killer appears in Hong Kong and he becomes a witness, Chang finds himself thrust into the national spotlight and as a possible interviewee for Jenny. Chang, however, over-emphasises his knowledge of the crimes to get to spend more time with the object of his affection and goes to increasing lengths to maintain the friendship. Soon the killer is focused on silencing Chang.
A partial remake of ‘Eyewitness’, the flawed, but diverting 1981 William Hurt/Sigourney Weaver thriller, ‘In Between Loves’ starts with promise only to quickly lose it all. Comedy thrillers can often provide both parts of the equation successfully; the not dissimilar ‘Nocturnal Demon’ also starring Alfred Cheung is a better example of this. ‘In Between Loves’, however, is a lesson on how to waste an excellent cast with poor material.
The main problem with ‘In Between Loves’, the thing that is infuriating, the part that destroys any chance this has of being entertaining is the characters. Rarely are we presented with such unlikeable, sometimes reprehensible characters and are expected to root for them. For instance, to get closer to Jenny, our ‘hero’ decides to pretend to be the killer himself and stalk her – this is played for laughs! Jenny Chang is also a dreadful heroine, a vile ‘anything to get a story’ reporter who actually facilitates some of the murders because she doesn’t want to lose the scoop. 80s Hong Kong comedy can be tone deaf, but this takes it to another level. Even the background characters are uninteresting so there isn’t even hope beyond the poorly written leading pair. Avoid.
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