KILLING ME TENDERLY (1997) Written and Directed by Lee Lik-chi Starring: Leon Lai Ming, Sammie Cheng Sau-man, Sandra Ng Kwun-yu, Wyman Wong Wai-man, Joe Cheng Cho, Vincent Kok Tak-chiu, Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung, Ha Ping, Ruby Wong Cheuk-ling, Spencer Lam Seung-yi, Lee Kin-yan

Reviewed by Ron Murillo

After his successful roles in Comrades: Almost a Love Story and Eighteen Springs, Leon Lai Ming must have turned to his agent in disbelief and asked one question: "Why am I doing this film?"

Lai Ming plays a rural police officer named Li, who is assigned to bodyguard a pop singer named Cinderella (played by pop singer Sammi Cheng Sau-man). To accomplish this, the singer's gay manager (who has the hots for Li) persuades the officer to go undercover as the manager's "girlfriend." Li and Cinderella fall for each other, which makes it difficult for Li, because of his cover story. Sandra Ng Kwun-yu waltzes through a cameo as a cousin of Li's, who has a secret crush on the policeman, playing it out in her typical comedic eye-rolling, teeth gnashing style. This attempt to capitalize on pairing the two pop singers strikes a flat note with a predictable script, no real suspense (the stalker 's identity is so obvious, he could probably have been caught by Barney Fife), and a romance without any sparks or chemistry.