Just as he was to be 28 years later in The Big Lebowski, Jeff Bridges (or Jeffrey, in the credits) is cast as a sort of resourceful slacker trying to pick up a wad of money by playing at the edges of a game dominated by more dangerous people. They include some of the most watchable actors of the 20th century-- Burgess Meredith, James Mason, and Jack McGowran (the great interpreter of Beckett). Meredith manages some Chaplinesque moments, but for the most part these actors are wasted on embarrassingly heavy-handed material. The setting, in Hong Kong, is supposed to help keep our attention, but unfortunately it is unimaginatively photographed. Although the brightly harmonized music persistently hints that the film is a light-hearted put-on, only a few moments of the script are amusing. The story wends its confusing way to a feel-good ending that was perhaps old-fashioned peacenik Burgess Meredith's motivation for this rare excursion into writing and directing: it envisions a global defense against all airborne weapons for years to come.
Review of The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go
