there are scenes in " the big hit " that are <NEG> so awful , they simply defy description </NEG> . the movie is <NEG> infected with the same kind of blunderheaded idiocy and misplaced confidence </NEG> that made " last action hero " ( 1993 ) such a chore to sit through . presumably , " the big hit " is an action-comedy , a difficult but not impossible genre to pull off . movies of this sort require a fine balance and careful tone , and the comedy is usually meant to work as catharsis for the violence . " lethal weapon 2 " ( 1989 ) is a perfect example of an action thriller that was also very , very funny . unfortunately , in " the big hit , " it seems that comedy is the main motive , and the violence is only intended to punctuate the laughs . <NEG> unfortunately , there are no laughs </NEG> . the movie resembles some of the goofy , throwaway ridiculousness of early jackie chan films , but it doesn't benefit from chan's incredible stunts and goofy , charismatic presence . instead , we are left with a lot of digital effects and mark wahlberg , who must have considered himself invincible after his critically-acclaimed performance in last year's " boogie nights . " however , if he wants to maintain a decent career , <NEG> he had better start selecting his projects more carefully </NEG> - movies like this are <NEG> a sure-fire recipe for a long career in the straight-to-video market </NEG> . wahlberg plays melvin smiley , an amiable guy who also happens to be a professional hitman ( see " grosse pointe blank " for the same character , much better developed ) . the movie wants us to think , " gee how clever and ironic - a guy who can kill without any moral implications , and yet he can't stand for anyone not to like him . " the fact is , melvin is so desperate to keep people from not liking him , that he puts up with both an obnoxious fiancee ( christina applegate , with a horrendous new york accent ) and an abusive girlfriend ( lela rochon ) who is only using him for his money . his constant bending over backwards to please people makes him a complete patsy at best , and a thoroughly unbelievable character at worst . melvin is employed exclusively by a crime boss named paris ( avery brooks ) as part of a team of hitmen , which also includes cisco ( lou diamond phillips ) and crunch ( bokeem woodbine ) . one day , melvin agrees to do some moonlighting with cisco by kidnapping the teenage daughter of a rich japanese mogul named jiro nishi ( sab shimono ) for a million dollar ransom . however , not only has jiro nishi lost all his money producing a big hollywood movie ( inside joke , get it ? ) , but his kidnapped daughter , keiko ( china chow ) , also happens to be paris' goddaughter . so , when paris finds out she's been kidnapped , he takes it personally and becomes determined to find out who did it . not knowing the cisco is actually behind the whole scheme , paris puts him in charge of rooting out the kidnapper . of course cisco blames the whole thing on poor , innocent melvin . along the way , <NEG> there are several obligatory gunfights , explosions , and car chases </NEG> , plus a literal cliffhanger inspired by " jurassic park , " and <NEG> a completely unconvincing romance </NEG> between melvin and keiko ( who looks like she's barely pushing fifteen ) . what the movie passes off as humor <NEG> resorts to thoroughly unfunny jokes </NEG> about overweight jewish mothers , hara-kiri , drinking problems , leaking body bags , and a running gag about how crunch has recently discovered the pleasures of masturbation , and now spends all his time doing hand exercises . not to mention the pimply video store clerk who is always calling melvin and screeching about how he needs to return his copy of " king kong lives , " which is two weeks overdue . <NEG> this mess of a movie </NEG> was helmed by che-kirk wong , the latest hong kong director imported by john woo ( " face/off " ) , who also served as executive producer . woo needs to stop acting as a conduit for other directors , and start making more of his own films . wong , who directed such films as " rock'n'roll cop " back in hong kong , is <NEG> completely tone deaf </NEG> when it comes to comedy . maybe jokes about vexatious video clerks and vomiting on other people are funny across the ocean , but they're not here , at least in the manner wong handles them . <NEG> many of the problems can be traced back to the script , which was penned by obvious freshman writer </NEG> ben ramsey . in addition to his <NEG> vague characterizations and uninspired action sequences </NEG> , ramsey's script assaults the audience with his attempts to copy the vulgar , poetic rhythms of tarantino or mamet-style dialogue . <NEG> what he comes out with is just a lot of annoying blather </NEG> , most of which spews from the lips of lou diamond phillips ( whose favorite phrase is " it's all love " ) and robin dunne , who plays cisco's stuttering , black-wannabe assistant . <NEG> the irritation factor of phillips and dunne combined is almost off the scale , which can pretty much describe the film as a whole </NEG> .
