此 片 的 最 大 功 臣 竟 然 是 梅 艷 芳 , 她 演 的 齊 宣 王 簡 直 「 絕 得 不 能 絕 」 。 而 由 女 人 反 串 衰 男 人 的 角 色 , 也 會 令 觀 眾 看 得 開 懷 一 點 吧 ！ 張 柏 芝 ( 友 情 演 出 ? ) 不 扮 玉 女 扮 狐 狸 精 更 勝 鄭 秀 文 ( 獨 撐 半 邊 天 ?? ) 的 貞 烈 東 宮 娘 娘 , 又 令 人 意 外 。

杜 琪 鋒 又 一 次 作 出 準 確 的 商 業 計 算 , 片 長 除 外 --- 最 好 縮 短 二 十 分 鐘 , 以 免 讓 觀 眾 有 時 間 察 覺 本 來 頗 胡 鬧 的 劇 情 。 不 知 是 否 因 為 是 賀 歲 片 關 係 , 片 中 的 對 白 仿 如 廿 一 世 紀 , 反 映 男 女 之 間 的 觀 念 卻 出 奇 地 保 守 --- 男 人 一 定 是 以 貌 「 娶 」 人 , 女 人 又 一 定 會 為 腹 中 塊 玉 原 諒 男 人, is this too simple and naive?

People mistake Wu Yen as a comedy. Actually, the story is a tragedy.

Wu Yen (Sammi Cheng) and Emperor Qi (Anita Mui) were heavenly planned to be a couple. However, the fox enchantress (Cecilia Cheung) had a crush on Wu Yen and put a "love spell" on Wu Yen, making her face with a big red mole. The enchantress (sex undefined actually) also made itself Yin Chun to seduce Emperor Qi to marry itself so that Emperor Qi would not love Wu Yen. Wu Yen was talented in military and athletics. So, when Emperor Qi needs her talent, he would call on her. In other times, he would put her away and be with Yin Chun. This is the story where the popular Chinese saying comes from: Wu Yen in bad times, Yin Chun in good times ( 有 事 鍾 無 艷 ， 無 事 夏 迎 春 ).

So, there are a lot of comedy pieces in the film, especially in the first half of the film. But on the whole, it is not a comedy. If you go into the theater with the intention of watching a comedy, you may be disappointed. The film portrays the tragic facts of love. "Experts" also say that we should not fall in love with somebody only because of their physical appearance, but the more important thing to consider is the persons' personality. However, how many of us are brave enough to carry out this ideal? (Half of the times, this ideal is pointed out by people with much less than perfect physical appearance.) In the film, Emperor Qi was not married to Wu Yen because she was ugly. Well, that was his preference. However, he let Wu Yen think that she was important to him and that he would treat her better after doing him the favors she had done to him, and he had no intention to do that. That was cheating. Sadly, Wu Yen loved him so much that she kept on believing him. You can say Wu Yen was not strong enough in her character and she should have left him. However, when you are blinded by love, are you sure you would not do what she did? This kind of relationships exist everywhere, probably hundreds of thousand of this kind of relationships exist here in Hong Kong. More sadly, most of such relationships do not end like what happened in the story. None of the parties in these relationships would ever wake up.

Wu Yen in bad times, Yin Chun in good times. Is this your way of life?