Naked Ambition (2003 film)

Andy (Louis Koo) and John (Eason Chan) are made redundant by their employer, a comic book publisher, and together with laid off colleagues go in search of a magazine publishing idea with which to make their fortunes. They ultimately stumble on the idea of a pornographic brothel guide; rather than unobtainable porn models their magazine features actual prostitutes working in the territory, together with an assessment of the girl and where she can be found. Their magazine, Ho Ching (豪情), is an unexpected hit and rakes in profits from both readers and working girls, as girls featured in the magazine see a jump in the number of punters and rates.

The visibility and money from this success leads to run ins with the law and organised crime, but what drives a wedge between Andy and John is their attitude to sexual temptation. Initially their write ups of their models are purely fictional, but the success of the magazine as an advertising tool leads to girls becoming willing to do whatever it takes in order to get a good review, and both Andy and John give in to the temptation of all the sex offered to them, damaging their relationships with girl friends and loved ones. Ultimately John manages to extract himself from the world of porn and prostitution, whilst Andy finds it impossible to leave.

The version released in Mainland China changes the focus of the film to law enforcement efforts to end the pornography industry.[3] This version has a different title, The Inescapable Snare (天罗地网 Tiānluódìwǎng). This version, in order to meet the standards of the ratio of employees for films jointly produced by Hong kong and Mainland China under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), adds another character who is a female police officer from Mainland China who goes undercover.[4]

The film is based on real people and real events and the magazine Hao Qing is an actual one and is as it is depicted in the film. The character Andy is based on "Frankie" who appears in the end credits narrating a coda to the film.

• Naked Ambition at Douban (in Chinese)
• Naked Ambition at Mtime.com (archived) (in Chinese)
• Naked Ambition at Rotten Tomatoes
• Naked Ambition at IMDb