It’s a rare event that I walk out of a Ronald Cheng comedy not completely appalled at the completely over-the-top antics and toilet humour that force me to just cringe and pretend it never happened.
With Hidden Heroes it seems there is a spark of promise that may make the next one to come out actually worth watching. Either that or an intense night out beforehand perhaps makes these things somewhat more palatable. So much for a detached objectivity.
The thing with Hidden Heroes is that is silly without being farcical and Ronald Cheng is significantly more subdued than many of his previous performances. His cowardly Chi is the the fool with the heart of gold that wins him the girl and the source of the plot. Charlene Choi is convincingly wooden as the robot from the future which is in striking contrast to her petulant character in the present, whereas the rest of Chi’s love life is peppered with stereotypes used to create some conflict and push the story along.
The entire time travelling plot device is quite contrived, but then it is part of the silliness that is the film’s charm. Apart from that, there are some key scenes which are genuinely funny and surprisingly there does seem to be some chemistry between Chi and Ling – quite convenient as this is central to the film though there is some value in the support characters. Hidden Heroes is a piece of light entertainment that is likely to produce a laugh and a reminder of how incompetence can get you far in the world.