Working Class (Da gung wong dai, 1985)

Tsui Hark

Hong Kong

99 mins, color, Cantonese (English subtitles)

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Inane comedic nonsense about a bunch of blue collar workers struggling to make ends meet in a noodle factory. Yam (Sam Hui), Hing (Teddy Robin), and Sunny (Tsui Hark) become good buddies, who love to play pranks on their supervisors. Yam falls for the Chairman's daughter Amy (Joey Wang), but an utterly inexplicable classism keeps them apart, chiefly due to his attraction-avoidance complex. When their immediate supervisors get taken in by a con artist when they embezzle money, the hapless Hing becomes a scapegoat on whom they try to pin the blame. They will stop at nothing to cover their tracks, even burning the noodle place to a crisp.

Virtually plotless, WORKING CLASS is a lighthearted slapstick with loads of stupid jokes, one-dimensional characters, and shoddy Cantopop, as befits a Hong Kong 1980s production. The flick is so unpretentious, one is tempted into liking it. Joey Wang is yummy but then she always is. This alone makes it worth the time. Tsui Hark is the master of lowbrow fun in tight spaces, as the gimmicks in the noodle room amply demonstrate. Overall, an enjoyable, if trivially stupid fare.

June 11, 2001.