Mafia.com (Taiwan Version) DVD Region All

To the neutered sounds of rockabilly covers, New Territory boyos Chiu (Jackie Lui), Chung, and Wah make their big break for the city, unable to be kept out on the farm when they've seen the lights of gay Paree. Chiu's brother is local yokel cop Danny Lee whose idea of brotherly advice is a series of slaps and insults. He's delighted when his brother gets out of his hair, but boggled that he doesn't want to follow in his footsteps and become a cop. Instead, Chiu and pals go under the protection of Ben Ng, a triad bigshot. He gives them a boring little corner of Mongkok to protect, and that's it. There they rot.

But the kids've got ambition, and courtesy of a series of freak events they find themselves up to their pretty little haircuts in trouble and relying on Roy Cheung (sporting a fashion forward combover) to bail them out. Roy does, in a parody of Hong Kong's allegedly predetermined elections, but the price he expects for his assistance is, unsurprisingly, too high. With enough of a wry take on the genre to keep cliches from swamping the boat, Mafia.com also features fun performances from Shing Fui-on, Danny Lee, sending up his onscreen image (his character frustrated by the way the public has passed up policing for triad membership), and Ben Ng, playing his standard sadistic goodfella role to the hilt.

Although the movie ultimately doesn't have the courage of its convictions - turning into a standard triad movie by its end, rather than continuing its lightweight deconstruction of same - it does manage to redeem itself in an utterly ridiculous final sixty seconds. Lightweight, quasi-entertainment that manages to offer novelty and some fun acting, the movie ultimately disappoints in only one major respect: we never do find out anything about that website.

by Grady Hendrix