Yes, Madam!
You go into Yes, Madam! expecting to see Michelle Yeoh (billed here as Michelle Khan) and Cynthia Rothrock in action as competing cops. Unfortunately, the film spends an excessive amount of time focused on the annoying hijinks and endless bickering of a trio of hapless ne’er-do-wells (played by John Shum, Mang Hoi, and Tsui Hark) who get mixed up with a hitman, his boss, and some incriminating microfilm. But when Yeoh and Rothrock do appear on-screen, watch out. The two ladies — who, of course, can’t stand each other when they first meet — are a joy to watch whenever they take on the film’s assortment of thugs and gangsters. Given that Yes, Madam!‘s a Corey Yuen film, the action is inventive and frenetic, and I rewound several scenes just to marvel at the deft moves and onscreen chaos. (I’m giving the film an extra star for the final brawl alone.) But the aforementioned hijinks are too annoying, the humor too slapstick-y (especially the police brutality), and the film ends with a tonal shift that feels more appropriate for a John Woo, heroic bloodshed-type film than an action comedy.