My Lucky Stars (1985) [Film Review]

My Lucky Stars; or, Winners and Sinners 2.0

    Please do not dry your hands with the fax paper.

Two years after the success of Winners and Sinners (1983), Sammo Hung made a semi-sequel called My Lucky Stars. Written by Eric Tsang, the story follows the adventures of the characters from the previous movie, but their names and relations have been changed a bit. Nevertheless, this sequel is just as enjoyable as the original film. 
Release Info

Directed by: Sammo Hung Starring: Sammo Hung, Sibelle Hu, Jackie Chan, Stanley Fung, Eric Tsang, Richard Ng, Charlie Chin, Yuen Biao
Language: Cantonese Original Title: 福星高照 Runtime: 96 min

 

Synopsis

An undercover cop in Japan called Muscles (Jackie Chan) is infiltrating the Yakuza group. However, while trying to catch a corrupt Hong Kong cop (Lam Ching Ying), his partner, Ricky Fung (Yuen Biao), is kidnapped in the process. Muscles calls headquarters for help and they in turn reach out to Muscles’ childhood friend, Kidstuff (Sammo Hung). Not aware of the full details of the mission, Kidstuff assembles his team of small time crooks Rawhide (Stanley Fung), Herb (Charlie Chin), Sandy (Richard Ng), and Roundhead (Eirc Tsang). They are joined by Inspector Woo (Sibelle Hu) with whom they go to Japan…

 

The Team Returns

Apart from obvious continuity errors that are conveniently left unexplained, My Lucky Stars is a well made continuation in the spirit of Winners and Sinners. The gang is doing the funny shenanigans known from the first film and these are sprinkled with decent action sequences. Interestingly, Sammo Hung’s character takes the role of the leader in this picture. While John Shum is evidently replaced by Eric Tsang, Jackie Chan has a surprisingly major role in the story. His character comes off as a bit of a jerk, but he saves the day in the third act.

 

The action scenes which deserve to be mentioned are Jackie’s wild Mitsubishi chase at the very beginning and the final fight involving all the characters at the end of the film. In addition, all the scenes in which the guys try to seduce Inspector Woo are extremely hilarious.

 

I particularly appreciated that fact that actress/stuntwoman Michiko Nishiwaki has a small supporting part in the film and that she faces off against Sibelle Hu (Girls with Guns for life!). Yuen Biao also shows up (he did the action choreography as in the case of Winners and Sinners), but his character is, unfortunately, absent for the whole second act. Additionally, Bolo Yeung has a funny cameo as an enraged millionaire.

 

Recommendations

If you liked Sammo Hung’s Winners and Sinners, then you will like My Lucky Stars as well. Worth seeing for the cast, humour, and the action. Now, I’m off to check out another entry in the series called Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars…

Overall score 7/10

Winners and Sinners (1983) [Film Review]

Winners and Sinners; or, Here Come the Lucky Stars

     From now on, we must stick together.

Winners and Sinners (1983) marks the first instalment in Sammo Hung’s successful Lucky Stars franchise. Hung conceived the idea of a light-hearted comedy with an ensemble cast after watching a TV programme about police officers using specific skills to crack down a case. The end result is an entertaining flick harking back to such classics as The Marx Brothers or The Three Stooges films.
Release Info

Directed by: Sammo Hung Starring: Sammo Hung, Stanley Fung, John Shum, Charlie Chin, Richard Ng,
Jackie Chan, Cherie Chung

Language: Cantonese Original Title: 奇謀妙計五福星 Runtime: 101 min

 

Synopsis

The movie tells the story of five petty criminals who end up together in a jail cell. Teapot (Sammo Hung) is a chubby and clumsy burglar, Curly (John Shum) is a workers’ rights activist, Wind Pipe (Richard Ng) steals car parts, Vaseline (Charlie Chin) specialises in stealing jewellery, Ranks (Stanley Fung) is the eldest member with an unknown past. The cellmates befriend each other and, after their release, they decide to set up Five Stars Cleaning Company. They are joined in their endeavour by Curly’s attractive sister, Shirley (Cherie Chung). Everything goes smoothly until one day someone accidentally throws a suitcase into their van. The Lucky Stars have found themselves in the middle of a financial trade between gangsters. They have to use their wits and fists in order to clean their names. 

 

Five Lucky Stars

Winners and Sinners may be nearly 40 years old, but it is still an enjoyable comedy. I was actually surprised at how much I liked it. Sammo Hung can really make a feel-good actioner and elicit some strong laughs at the same time. I particularly liked the scenes in which Richard Ng’s character tries to learn invisibility or when the team members fumblingly try to seduce Shirley.

 

Apart from recognisable stars in the leading roles, the film is filled with great supporting parts. For instance, Jackie Chan plays a hot-headed cop who always ends up causing trouble for himself. He has an awesome chase sequence halfway through the film and it is a shame that it is not mentioned very often whenever Jackie’s amazing stunts are recapped. Interestingly, Yuen Biao choreographed action for this movie and he has a funny cameo in one of the scenes. Perceptive viewers can also spot cameos from Moon Lee, Mars, and Wu Ma.

The success of Winners and Sinners led to the creation of whopping six(!) sequels. Please refer here for the full list. Unfortunately, Sammo Hung did participate in the making of every film, but he often served either as a director, producer, or actor on the sets. In fact, the only actors from the original cast who appeared in all seven Lucky Stars films were Richard Ng and Stanley Fung. I hope that I will be able to review every entry in the series.

 

Recommendations

If you are in the mood for a light, kung-fu oriented comedy that does not rely on swearing or clichés, then Winners and Sinners is the choice for you. It is a great action comedy flick that will not disappoint you. I wish that Sammo Hung could keep making these even today.

Overall score: 7/10

My Cousin, The Ghost (1987) [Film Review]

My Cousin, the Ghost; or, How to find a spouse when you’re already dead

This week’s review will be about a classic HK comedy/ghost parody from the 1980s, starring legendary comedy veteran Richard Ng in the title role.

Release Info 

Directed by: Wu Ma Starring: Richard Ng, Wan-Si Wong,Wu Ma, Kenny Bee 

Language: Cantonese Original Title: Biao ge dao Movie Industry: Hong Kong Runtime: 91 min

Plot

Cousin Big (Richard Ng) is a prosperous restaurant owner in London, however after falling out with his close associate Cousin Mako (Wu Ma), the latter is deported back to Hong Kong. A while later, Cousin Big announces that he will return to HK as well in order to divide the financial shares from his business between Mako and four other cousins who are living together. When Big arrives, it actually turns out that… he’s dead. Big died in an accident, but his soul is convinced that he is still alive. Fellow cousins struggle as hard as possible to keep the dreadful news from their relative, but things get mix up even more when the lodger in their house Ms. Rose (who’s also a ghost!) falls in love with Big.

Cousinbusters

In spite of the sheer nonsense and overall ridiculousness of the plotline above, I admit that watching My Cousin, the Ghost was a very enjoyable experience. The film may not be extremely hilarious, but it’s most certainly straightforwardly funny comedy of mistakes from beginning to the end, which will lighten you up. Apart from the story of Cousin Big and his infatuation with Rose, we also have a subplot about another female ghost (who died together with Rose) who’s also on the lookout for Prince Charming before she vanishes completely. Hence, needless to say, the movie’s finale turns into one big Ghostbusters/Fright Night parody with all the cousins running scared as hell, trying to save their lives during this spiritual confrontation of hearts.

The best highlights of this comedy worth mentioning are for sure: catchy soundtrack (with awesome ending credits song), a string of funny skits as the cousins get to know about Big’s true nature, of course the flawless performance of Richard Ng as well as Wan-Si Wong in the leading roles.

What can be considered as disadvantage is perhaps the fact that Cousin Big and Rose are mostly absent throughout the film’s finale, thus rendering the film's ending as a bit too rushed. Yet still, this doesn’t disrupt the joyous mood of the picture.

Recommendations

I highly recommend this film to everyone who likes standard HK comedy style and don’t want to take the risk of being put off by some tasteless toilet humour comedy crap that’s plenty of today. If you’re in the mood for light-hearted plot My Cousin, the Ghost can be definitely your choice to pleasantly spend an evening.

Overall score: 8/10