Xiao xin jian die

Teddy Robin Kwan, an actor shorter than average but not short enough to be classified as a midget, plays the manager of an all-girl music band ("The Playgirls"), who becomes the target of spies from different agencies when he comes into possession (without even knowing it) of a top-secret microfilm containing the map to stolen Taiwan treasures. "To Spy With Love" is about 85% comedy, and the comedy is largely unfunny. You may laugh a little here and there, but mostly it's really tedious. Teddy Robin Kwan does not have enough charisma, comic or of any other type, to be the lead of a film. The film threatens to come to life after an hour, with its one major action sequence that begins with a motorcycle firing a missile at a truck and ends with a rather unique chase on large ice-cubes! But the other action set-piece, the climactic fight between Nina Li and Sibelle Hu, with Kwan caught in the middle, is disappointingly gimmicky. Not really a recommended movie. (*1/2)