• Fantasy Mission Force
• Farewell, China
• Fight Back to School I
• Final Justice
• Fire Dragon
• First Date
• First Option
• Fish and Elephant
• Fist From Shaolin
• Fist of Fury 1991
• Fist of the North Star
• Five Girls and a Rope
• Floating Life
• Foreign Moon
• Four Faces of Eve
• From Riches To Rags
• From the Queen to the Chief Executive
• Frozen
• Fun, The Luck, and The Tycoon, The

Fantasy Mission Force

Actually a vehicle for Jimmy Wang Yu, Jackie Chan plays a small supporting role as a favor to Yu in this (mostly) slapstick comedy in the Dirty Dozen vein about a motley crew assembled to rescue 4 generals from 4 different countries who are all prisoners of the Japanese.

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Farewell, China

Hung and Nansan are a young couple with a small child and the not uncommon problems of making ends meet for the family. Hung is desperate for an overseas visa that would allow her the education she needs for the employment that would solve their problems, and after having been turned down many times, she finally receives one. But getting her wish is only the beginning of their troubles, once Nansan is so worried about his wife after not receiving any word that he illegally emigrates to the U.S. in order to find her. Director Clara Law is an expert at telling stories of people trying to achieve a dream and the obstacles that can lay in their path to those dreams, and she has two of the best actors in Hong Kong at her service to tell this particular story: Maggie Cheung as Hung and Tony Leung as Nansan. It is perhaps a small problem that the film concentrates so heavily on Nansan... it truly is his story... because more scenes of Hung could have provided a clearer picture of how their paths in the U.S. diverge and how this ultimately effects their relationship. But even so, the film still has significant emotional impact, showing with frightening authenticity the dislocation and isolation Nansan feels in the U.S., separated from the way of life he's always known. And the story leads up to a genuinely stunning finale. Farewell, China features two great performers and one great director in a film worthy of all their talents. (Review written: 6/27/02)

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Fight Back to School I

Star Chow is a cop, but not a very good one, and after fouling up a training exercise he's leading, his superiors have had it and are about to fire him... when he gets one last chance. The chief of police's gun has been stolen, and is believed to be in the possession of one of the student "thugs" at a local high school, and Chow is the only cop who looks remotely young enough to be a student... so he'll go undercover to find the gun. In the process, of course, he'll uncover and deal with a lot more criminal behavior than just gun theft. "Star Chow" is played by Stephen Chow, who is a something of an acquired taste among Hong Kong film fans, and some people have never acquired that taste. But he does have a kind of Leslie Nielsen-like talent for absurd slapstick mixed with the ability to do some outrageous mugging without ever letting on that he knows anything "funny" is going on. There are some marvelously silly moments in Fight Back To School, and scenes such as the training exercise and Chow's attempts at taking a history test while a police associate out in the hall is passing him supposedly "secret" hints about the answers provoke their share of laughs. And while many American slapstick comics of today can be so grating and off-putting it's hard to laugh at their films even if they ARE funny (as in the movies of virtually anyone from the last twenty years of Saturday Night Live), Chow is just so inherently likable (if not exactly the brightest bulb in the pack) that it's easy to just go with the flow and laugh. The same thing is true of Fight Back To School. (Review written: 6/27/02)

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Final Justice

A new visit to another one of the classic movie themes: the two childhood friends (sometimes brothers, sometimes, as here, two pals who grew up together) who grow up to follow very different paths as adults: one in the service of good, the other in the service of evil. This time, it's Lau Ching Wan as Siu-Ho, whose desire to do good and help his fellow man has caused him to follow the vocation of priest, and Eric Tsang as Mr. Kim, the most thoroughly nasty, viscous gangster Hong Kong has ever seen. It's a well-worn theme, and isn't always treated with stunning originality here, but the two leads are so absolutely riveting in their performances that they breath an astonishing amount of life into the story. In particular, you simply can't take your eyes off Tsang whenever he's on screen: his Mr. Kim is the most chilling character you're ever likely to see, and you won't soon forget moments such as Kim strangling an associate of his to death in his car right in the middle of traffic, then going directly to confession with Siu-Ho and saying he wants to repent... but with a sly grin on his face and a chuckle in his voice. One of the great cliches of all stories about priests works its way into the film as well, when Siu-Ho is tempted and breaks his vow of celibacy (a cross hung on his wall falls to the floor at the moment he falls from grace... is that subtle enough for you?), but the cliche serves a purpose, as he has to turn to the only person who can possibly help him... a defense attorney hired for him by Mr. Kim. Watch for the scene where the song generally used as the theme for Wong Fei-Hong is put to imaginative use (remember the actual TITLE of the song and you'll appreciate the subtle bit of sumbolism). Final Justice is a fairly well made (at times, QUITE well made) movie that is elevated to a higher level by two of the best performances in Hong Kong film, and is a fine addition to producer Johnny To's track record of quality.

Directed by Derek Chiu. Also starring Carman Lee. (Review written: 8/16/02)

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Fire Dragon

Tang Lin-Yu is a fierce "warrior woman" working for a villain called merely "His highness", who is determined to overthrow the government of China and claim the title of emperor, which he¹s convinced is rightfully his. When she arrives at an inn where Yuen Ming, an emissary to the capital, is staying, and sees the secret letter he's carrying, she knows what to do... or does she? The more she gets to know Yuen Ming and the other people at the inn (fighting with them in battle, even) the more she doubts she's on the right side... and when "his highness'" lover arrives to insure she does her job... well, you can guess things don't go smoothly. Fire Dragoin is an expertly-done period story with memorable special effects and swordfights, but all of that is essentially a bonus. What really makes the film worth your time is the performance of Bridget Lin in the title role. Lin could do the "fierce warrior woman" role in her sleep (not that she ever does), but there's an added touch of warmth and humanity to her character this time that makes it particularly special. To see Lin¹s growing fondness for the people she's supposed to rob and kill, to see her moral dilemma manifest itself in both warmth and love AND her typical forceful determination, is to see a top-notch performer at the peak of her abilities. Bridget Lin deserves to known more widely outside of Hong Kong, and if that finally happens, Fire Dragon should be one of the films that accomplishes that.

Directed by: Yuen Wo Ping (1994)
Starring:Bridget Lin, Tap Lap Man and Max Mok

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First Date

A flawed but still worthwhile coming-of-age story from Taiwan, First Date is the story of three high school friends... Birdie, Mousie and Chiao-Luo (who provides the film's occasional narration). The three of them are classic under-achievers whose interests seem to center around nothing more than the usual girls, parties and good times. But Chia-Luo doesn't quite fit as comfortably into the trio as his two companions. He has actual ambitions: to be a writer of poetry and novels. His is the classic disfunctional family, with a father who spends most of his time in a drunken stupor, and a mother who spends most of HER time anywhere else but around the house. This has resulted in his sort of adopting Mr. Liu, his teacher (whom the other delight in making fun of) as a kind of surrogate father who encourages his dreams. All of this is very sweet and touching. But they have to get the title to make some kind of sense, after all, so it happens that Chia-Luo meets and falls in love with a girl whom Mousie has a crush on but has never spoken to. The course of true love ne'er did run smooth, as Shakespeare told us, and theirs doesn't either... but it does run in familiar and not exactly fascinating ways. How many romances have we seen in which a young man makes some embarassing admission about something he's said or heard about her, causing a rift? How many times have we watched a cold, unreceptive female melt when she discovers this apparent brute has a sensitive, even poetic side? For that matter, how many odes to the hormones of teenage boys can pass themselves off as tender romances before the public gets wise? It's kind of sad to watch the film's warm, humane tale of Chia-Luo, his disintegrating family and his understanding teacher (which may not be original but is handled with heartfelt emotion) take detours into this less interesting territory. But the coming-of-age stuff is done SO well that First Date can still be recommended for them alone. Besides, there are undoubtedly people who will actually ENJOY the romance, and who's to say they're wrong?

Starring Shih Chun, Chan g Shih and Li Hsing-Wen. Directed by Peter Wang. (Review written: 1/3/03)

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First Option

Director and co-writer Gordon Chan has given us here a police drama about a kind of Hong Kong S.W.A.T. team going after a major drug ring run by... but that would be giving away the surprise. Michael Wong stars as officer Thomas Wong, convinced that he's on the right track and near to cracking the case, when officer Minnie Kwan (Gigi Leung) is added to his team... something Wong resents both because she's a woman, and because she's with customs (Wong feeling that this is strictly a police job). There is absolutely nothing about the film that's done badly... but very little that's really very spectacular or original, either. Wong and Leung are your basic mismatched-partners-who-grow-to-respect-each-other, the only surprise in their storyline being the welcome fact that they don't fall in love. The big raids, the big explosions, the shoot-outs... they all come right where you expect them to be, which is kind the problem, in that nearly every twist and turn is something that can be seen coming a mile away by anyone who's seen enough cop movies. The last half hour, though, in which the squad finally descends on the island of the drug-running gang, is like something out of a good war movie like Platoon or Full Metal Jacket more than a cop film, with some real suspense and tension. There's even some unexpected but effective humor... even those who can predict most of the dialogue probably won't be expecting Yoda-like lines such as "A good heart he had, but seduced by the dark side he was." The entire film can't really be recommended, but maybe you could just watch enough of the beginning to get the set-up, then fast forward to the last half hour. The good stuff is good enough that it would be a bit of a shame to miss it.

Also featuring Damian Lau. (Review written: 7/2/02)

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Fish And Elephant

Qun works at the Beijing zoo in the elephant exhibit, Ling works selling clothes at a local bazarre, and the two of them carry on a discreet romantic relationship... both women have to remain in the closet, but they seem to have adjusted to this and seem to be, as the old song (and the Wong Kar-Wai film) has it, "happy together". Then Qun's mother shows up, convinced that it's time for her daughter to find a man... AND a former girlfriend of hers, now on the run from the police for killing her abusive father, suddenly appears as well. Qun's life has just taken a turn for the worse. As an end title informs us, the cast of this film is made up entirely of non-professional actors, and while they may not reach the emotional highs and lows of, say, Gong Li or Maggie Cheung, they give the film an air of believability many of those stars wouldn't have... you're clearly watching "regular" people. And director Li Yu tells a strong tale of two people who just want to live their lives and be happy, but find that their world isn't ready to accept them for who they are. (The storyline about the old girlfriend being a fugitive from justice does go a bit melodramatic, but you won't walk away remembering this as a melodramatic story... just a good one.)

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Fist From Shaolin

There is probably no character in western film who has been the subject of as many films as Wong Fei Hong has been in Hong Kong. Fist From Shaolin gives us yet another interpretation. This time, instead of Jet Li or Jackie Chan we have Wong Kwan as Wong Fei Hong, in a performance that fits quite comfortably with the character as portrayed in the Once Upon A Time In China series... the compassionate healer, spiritual man, Chinese patriot... and, oh yeah, a spectacular martial artist. In this story, Fei-Hong comes up against a plot on the part of both foreign interests as well as his fellow Chinese citizens to sell many of his countrymen into slavery so that the rapidly growing railroads will have a free source of labor. They ought to know better when Fei-Hong is around. The film doesn't have quite the epic sense of history that the Once Upon A Time films do, nor the slapstick humor of the Drunken Master movies, but this is not necessarily a bad thing... director and writer Lau Gwok Wai seems intent on taking a familiar character and adding his own touches rather than rehashing what others have done. Sharon Kwok puts her own stamp on "Auntie Yee" (known here as "Auntie 13"), and director Lau certainly has the knack for the fast-paced kung fu (not to mention the spectacular lion dances) that you would hope for, as well as moments of the caring Fei-Hong (as when he helps a martial arts master whose hand has been amputated to see why he should go on living). There seem to always be ways to keep our fascination with Wong Fei-Hong new, and Fist From Shaolin finds more than its share.

Also starring Gai Chun Wa. (Review written: 7/3/02)

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Fist of Fury 1991

If there's anyone who seriously thinks a movie starring Stephen Chow is going to be a serious sequel to or remake of the Bruce Lee classic, let's get that impression corrected right away. In fact, the only connection the film has with its title is that Chow's character, Lau Chin, has such an incredibly powerful right fist that he's afraid to use it because of the damage he might cause. He arrives in Hong Kong from the mainland expecting to stay with his friend Chiang, but a misplaced address and a run-in with a thief who tries to steal his luggage winds up with Chow staying with the thief instead (don't ask) and of course running afoul of some of the unsavory types the thief is naturally in contact with. Chow also sees a chance to strike it rich in an amateur boxing match with 10 million Hong Kong dollars going to the winner. Audiences should perhaps be warned that for a Stephen Chow film this movie gets remarkably, realistically bloody at times, with Chow's face being reduced to a slab of raw, bloody meat on more than one occasion, and there's a surprisingly dramatic turn late in the film as his mentor is murdered and Chow framed for crime, leading him to seek revenge... the kind of thing that can work easily in a straight drama, but is a bit jarring in what is basically a laugh-packed comedy. But don't be concerned that you won't be getting those laughs... Chow knows what his fans want, and gives it to them in his usual effortless way (a particularly outstanding moment of silliness is Chow's "challenge" to a group of old men, who proceed to defeat him handily with techniques like shaking a beer can fiercely and opening it right in his face). All in all, Chow fans should find plenty of the entertainment they love in Fist Of Fury 1991... they should just be prepared for a bit more raw (VERY raw) realism than they're accustomed to.

Also starring Kenny Bee, Corey Yuen, Sharla Cheung Man, Vincent Wan and Shing Fui On. Producer and Action Director: Corey Yuen. Director: Joh Chung Sing. (Review written: 7/3/02)

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Fist of the North Star

A title like Fist Of The North Star would make most people imagine a seventies period kung fu film, but within seconds you realize this is in fact an anime. Specifically, it's an anime set in a post-nuclear holocaust future, in which almost all forms of technology (except for certain kinds of motor vehicles) are useless, and the soil is so poisoned that plants and flowers can't grow in it. Ken (the Fist Of The North Star, that is, the ruler of the clans of the north) and his fiancee Julia are travelling the country with a bag of seeds, which they intend to use whenever they find soil that looks promising, and give the people hope that nature, and life as they knew it, can return. But when they encounter Shin, the Fist Of The South Star, things take a decided turn for the worse. Not exactly everything about this film makes it one to be recommended without reservation: the one-on-one showdown battle scenes are strikingly similar to those tedious "one man inside a giant robot against another man inside another giant robot" sequences we've seen in too many other anime, and they too often pander to the "let's see some graphic blood and guts crowd" (a scene in which one character squeezes another's head so hard that his eyeballs literally pop out qualifies, doesn't it?). Still, the film doesn't simply place its characters in this unusual setting for the novelty of the situation: it makes imaginative use of the unearthly post-apocalyptic background both storywise, and visually, with some truly stunning images (it should be a long time before you forget the ocean liner embedded in the upper stories of the ruin of a gigantic skyscraper). The characters are each introduced slowly and subtly... that is, it takes a long time before you feel safe making judgements about just who and what they are, which just makes the proceedings more intriguing... and even when you're sure you've figured out that so-and-so is evil and so-and-so is good, they may just surprise you. The animation itself is a bit spotty: in some places it's a little stiff, but in others it's remarkably full and lush. All in all, though, Fist Of The North Star plays with people's expectations about the kind of anime it SEEMS to be, and is definitely a must-see for people who don't always like to see films in which they can see every plot development coming a mile away.

Produced by Shoji Kishimoto, directed by Toyoo Oshida. (Review written: 12/11/02)

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Five Girls and a Rope

Five sisters are shown in the very first scene happily playing together and pledging that after growing up together thus far, they won't abandon each other, will never marry and stick together, etc. We then flash forward to se how life doesn't necessarily turn out for them the way they'd planned. This is the kind of real-life drama that OUGHT to make for a compelling film, but for the most part Produced by Hsu Fend and Hsu Bin, directed by Yeh Hung Wei. (Review written: 7/5/02)

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Floating Life

The Chan family is moving fro m Hong Kong to Australia... mother, father, mother's parents and several children. Of course, there are plenty of adjustments to be made and a whole new life style to get used to. If that had been the only thing this film was about, it still would have had plenty of potential... the story of immigrants adjusting to a new land has provided the material for many excellent films in the past. But Floating Life has much more. It seems that not ALL of the Chan family is part of the move... there is a daughter who has already immigrated to Germany several years earlier and lives there with her German husband and their daughter, as well as a son, Gar Ming, who still lives in Hong Kong. The film shifts back and forth as it tells all three stories, and each tale amplifies the power and poignancy of the others. The Chan grandparents are traumatized by the fact that they can't follow such traditional customs as offering incense to the memory of their ancestors, while Bing (the mother) juggles the troubles of her own children, who see no need to carry on any of the old customs in this new world, and her own worries about losing touch with her own Chineseness... a fear shared by her sister in Germany, who's convinced that she's no longer Chinese, and since Hong Kong won't even "be" Hong Kong much longer (this is 1994) and she's CERTAINLY not German, she no longer HAS an identity. But in Hong Kong itself, Gar Ming, who SHOULD have maintained in touch with his roots, is drifting just as much as the rest of his family, and what with being engaged to a woman about to have his child while engaged in a love affair with a co-worker, not exactly embodying tradtional Chinese family values. Director/writer Clara Law has created a strong, powerful story that illustrates how one's sense of identity is built from within and doesn't depend merely on where you live... and thus that you can stay in touch with your roots wherever you are. It also gives some insite into the kind of generational conflicts that are found in all cultures, and that too often tend to bring into conflict even those family members who love each other the most. Floating Life is a film that should resonate strongly with audiences of all cultures and nationalities, even those who have lived their whole lives in the place they were born.

Starring Annette Shun Wah, Annie Yip, Anthony Wong, Cecilia Lee, Toby Wong and Toby Chan. (Review written: 12/13/02)

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Foreign Moon

Lan Lan, a 20year-old Chinese girl come to London to attend college, is taken aback to learn her sponsor will only pay her fees and tuition if she marries his son... which is the real reason he sponsored her in the first place. She winds up having to stay with Su Tong, a Chinese emigre she met at Victoria Station. Su Tong has a wife and child back in China who have not yet recieved permission to follow him to England, after two years of efforts. As the relationship of Lan Lan and Su Tong becomes closer, things get rather complicated. This plot has the makings of a soap opera, but unexpected plot developments at every turn, and excellent characterizations (from both the script and the cast) make this more of a story of two lonely people in exile in a strange land, and a love story only second, if at all. The viewer really feels for both Lan Lan and Su Tong, and gets the sense that a story very similar to this one probably happens every day to immigrants around the world. Playing the old "predict what's going to happen next" game would be a very frustrating exercise with this one, and that's all to the good. Anyone who appreciates the kind of film where you can almost forget you're watching a movie and think you're observing real lives ought to enjoy Foreign Moon.

Starring Chen Hsiah Hsuan, Harrison Liu, Chen Daming, David Tse, and Jian Rui Chao. Directed and written by Zhang Zeming. (Review written: 7/8/02)

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Four Faces of Eve

Four stories that attempt to show show sides of the "face" of woman-kind. Some of the same stars appear in multiple episodes, but that's the only link between them other than the theme. The concept is a worthy and admirable one, but except for a few moments here and there, the film doesn't quite achieve its lofty ambitions. "Mao" is essentially a woman's arguments with her less-than-committed boyfriend, Blowing In The Wind is a slapstick routine, Twins traces the lives of twin sisters and 12 Years is a dark- humored game show spoof in which at one point a wife is shown film of her husband's liaison with one of his three mistresses and the wife has to guess which one it is in order to win fabulous prizes. Mao and Twins are just plain too arty for their own good, seemingly more interested in how stylishly and moodily they can present their stories, rather than in making their themes and characters accessible. 12 Years avoids that trap, but chooses a rather too easy target... and besides, REAL game shows have pretty much surpassed what this film is presenting as spoof. Blowing In The Wind is actually the one segment that more or less works, if not quite as powerfully as it might: our heroine's continually escalating plight is an amusing comment on the situation women as a whole face in the modern world. By no means is 4 Faces Of Eve a bad film, it's more of a noble but failed experiment that, hopefully, someone else will attempt again... the premise has the potential of being a great film.

Segments directed by Kam Kwok-Leung, Erik Kot Man Fai, Jan Lam and Hoi Fung. Starring Sandra Ng, Jan Lam Hoi Fung, Eric Kot Man Fai and Karen Mok. (Review written: 7/15/02)

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From Riches to Rags

In this slapstick farce, down-and-out Ricky's luck seems to miraculously change when he wins the lottery... but what about the predictions of the psychic who told him he wouldn’t live more than another year? ...

That huge knocking sound you hear is the sound of viewers' jaws hitting the floor all around the world as they watch this film and see, in the opening credits, "written and directed by John Woo." As you might guess, this is an example of the kind of film Woo did to get his foot in the door while waiting to turn out A Better Tomorrow and its like. The surprising thing is that on its own terms and of its own kind it's actually not bad at all. Slapstick comedy in general isn't to every taste, and cultural differences put up certain barriers, but if you're in the mood for sheer low-brow silliness you could do far worse. Ricky and his friend Sam scrape by with low-paying jobs while hoping to strike it big. When Ricky wins the lottery he temporarily forgets the prediction of the psychic who told him he wouldn't live to see the end of his 28th year, but he won't keep forgetting for long. Even if you think slapstick is just plain stupid, you may find yourself chuckling at the opening credits montage in which Ricky rides to work on the bus, falls asleep and winds up dangling half out the bus window where he barely avoids getting smashed by oncoming traffic. Or perhaps you'll be more amused by the kung fu class in which the instructor teaches drunken boxing simply because he is still hungover, and the class strains more than a few muscles trying to duplicate his insane movements. If this sounds like a very episodic story, well, it is... but a lot of those episodes are more genuinely funny than they have any right to be. Ricky and Sam Hui really throw themselves whole-heartedly into the lunacy, which is the only way to play this kind of material. You'll probably find yourself actually wondering how their lives are going to change after they become suddenly wealthy, and you don't exactly see that in every farce. Even the stuff that doesn't really work (like Ricky's romantic attraction to a famous film star) is often balanced with something else that does (such as Sam's budding relationship with a woman who, unknown to him, is a patient in a mental institution). From Riches To Rags may be the ultimate definition of a guilty pleasure, but a pleasure it Nonetheless is.

Also starring Johnny Koo. (Review written: 4/25/03)

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From the Queen to the Chief Executive

Back in 1985, a group of teenage gang members were involved in an attack on a tourist couple in a Hong Kong park which resulted in their deaths. Tried for murder, they were officially "detained at her majesty's discretion"... that is, held indefinitely without an official sentence being pronounced. It's now 1997, the handover is about to happen, and the families and friends of the prisoners are concerned about what will happen when it occurs, fearing that they'll be executed by the new regime, or that "her majesty's discretion" will simply become "the chief executive's discretion" and the situation will effectively become life without parole. Herman Yau directs a fictional story that has all the feel of a true-life docu-drama, about the lawyer (David Lee) hired to bring some closure to the case and get definitive sentences for the prisoners, even when it looks like he could be risking his career doing so. This is a movie that has nearly everything... an edge-of-your-seat legal drama, a serious study of the tensions in Hong Kong as British rule was giving way to that of China, and a social drama about how society itself is often responsible for the way many teens become delinquents. The amazing thing is that with all these different elements, it doesn't feel like three different movies, and all the topics blend naturally into one fascinating tale. Not an easy or comforting film to watch, but if you do so you'll be richly rewarded.

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Frozen

A young performance artist named Qui Lei has settled on a very unusual project for his next piece: he will melt a huge block of ice merely with his own body heat... and as a result, almost certainly die of hypothermia. For anyone looking for a thought-provoking film, this is almost the definition of that term... there are so many areas in which this movie will stimulate debate, one hardly knows where to begin listing them. Just to name a few, there's the symbolism of Qui Lei's indifference to his own life mirroring that of his generation’s after Tienanmen Square... the question of "how does the artist know when they've gone too far?, and is such a thing even possible?" (this tying in with the question of whether they owe anything to their family and friends when the result could be as severe as with Qui Lei's plan), and whether a "piece" (or protest) such as this has any real effect or is merely pointless self-indulgence. None of which would mean anything if the film weren't well written, acted and directed, which luckily it is. The story is loosely "inspired by" actual events, and the documentary style film-making (including a voice-over narration that might make you think you’re watching a PBS special) add a serious touch of realism to the proceedings. The director's billed as "Wu Ming," a pseudonym meaning "No name," chosen because of fear of retaliation from the government. Whoever he actually is, he's created a strong, powerful story that you won't soon forget.

Starring Jia Hongshen and and Ma Xiao Qing. (Review written: 7/10/02)

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The Fun, The Luck, and The Tycoon

This would be a good film for American audiences who only know Chow Yun Fat from action shoot-outs like The Replacement Killers and The Corruptor. In this wacky slapstick comedy, he stars as Lam Bo Sun, the tycoon of the title. He isn't enjoying the life of the tycoon all that much: the boring cocktail parties, the obnoxious people he has to be nice to, and most especially the upcoming marriage that's been arranged for him to a distant cousin he doesn't care for at all, but who will get virtually all of his wealth if he backs out of the marriage. To relieve the pressure, from time to time Lam takes little "vacations" in which he leaves the mansion, goes to some area where nobody knows him and takes some low-paying blue collar job. In his latest such excursion, he finds that life at the East East Wonton fast food emporium is teaching him all kinds of valuable lessons about life, and giving him a REAL love interest in Ah Yuk, the boss' sister. It would be a mistake to call The Fun, The Luck And The Tycoon an all-time comedy classic, but there are so many enjoyably silly moments that you're almost bound to have a good time. People sometimes forget what a great comic actor Chow Yun-Fat can be... he's great here, maintaining his dignity even in the silliest moments, as when a high-society dinner party degenerates into a huge food fight, with every single cake in the place getting tossed in someone's face. Hong Kong humor is often said to be very different from that of Hollywood, but American audiences should have no trouble finding the scenes of mistaken identity, 30 different characters crowding under one little table to hide, and live-action moments reminiscent of Warner Brothers cartoons difficult to enjoy... they've been laughing at stuff like this in Hollywood movies for ages, and it's done here with great humor and enthusiasm. The real surprise here is not the presence of Chow in the title role, but the man who DIRECTED the film... action master Johnny To. It seems HE'S more versatile than peole realize, too.

Also starring Sylvia Chang, Li Ching and Cheng Tan Shui. (Review written: 1/6/03)

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