Hao qing (2003) Online

Notice: The new rating for "Ho Ching" in Taiwan is Taiwan:R-18. Please refer to your update in this movie. The man with the tan, popular actor Louis Koo, takes on producing duties with Naked Ambition, an entertaining but problematic look at Hong Kong's sex industry. Based on the true-life exploits of co-writer Frankie Chung Kin-Keung, the film details the rise of two guys (played by Koo and Eason Chan) from lowly editors at a magazine to kings of the local porn industry. Along the way there's laughs, jabs at the porn industry, digs at their consumers, appearances by some comely Hong Kong actresses, occasional no-name skin, and then a final dip into the conflicts and moral issues that might arise from running your own porn empire. That's where Naked Ambition eventually derails. Directors Dante Lam and Chan Hing-Kai (who also co-wrote) let their film degrade from a potential satire into a pandering comedy-drama that touts the strength of brotherhood. Huh?

Spoilers

While the general verdict seems to be that Ho Ching ("Naked Ambition") is soft porn for soft porn's sake, there are indications that the moviemakers wanted to do more. The story line is about two chaps laid off as casualties of the burst of the IT bubble trying to make it by publishing porno magazines. There `research' takes them through an exotic brave new world of the world's oldest profession, in varieties abundant. Unlike in the case of WONG Jing's pictures, the poor taste displayed in this movie is not purely for the sake of having poor taste, but are also part of the reality it is depicting. The moviemakers also tried to bring in human stories as well as show different human relationships, how they work, and how they fail to work. The Hong Kong actors and actresses who are normally very cautious about the roles they play on screen in order to protect their pop singer image have gone all out in this movie, particularly Josie Ho (Purple Storm (1999)), daughter of multi-billionaire casino tycoon, just to be married in a lavish wedding this weekend in Sydney. Despite these efforts, unfortunately, a lot of people walking into the cinema will watch this movie as a soft porn and no more.