1990 ‘吉星拱照’ Directed by Johnnie To
Lam Bo Sun, the richest man in Hong Kong, is expected to marry the ditziest of socialites in a matter of weeks. On a whim, he leaves everything behind and gets a job as a lowly busboy at a noodle restaurant, and finds the girl of his dreams.
Gat seng gung ziu, The Fun, the Luck, and the Tycoon, 吉星高照, 행운의 별, 길성고조, The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon, 주윤발의 행운의 별
Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Action! - Johnnie/Ringo's Hong Kong Actions: In The Mood For King To's Sweeping Realism
Johnnie To returns to direct Sylvia Chang and Chow Yun-fat in this new comedy based on the Eddie Murphy classic Coming to America, whose name is actually randomly dropped in the movie in one of the many random scenes that make up this film.
Although though it's quite clear by now that the director's comedies aren't my thing, I did enjoy this one for the way it reworks the story of "Coming to America" rather than simply rehashing it. Chow Yun-fat and Chang both have another chance to showcase their comedic chops, with Chow Yun-fat in particular proving that he is more than just a cool…
I think every movie needs a slow mo of Chow Yun Fat paddling in a canoe, to the strains of a romantic cantopop jam, as he enters a candlelit social function.
Also Chow rocks a cardigan draped over a shirt with the arms near the neck, like an 1980s catalogue model, and he still has DRIP!!!! Is there nothing this man can do*
This opens with a very brief but acrobatic fencing sequence, i almost restarted the film and was gonna play Fatboy Slim's Weapon of Choice over it.
He also wears a gold coat, and gets in a taxi driven by himself (and Clone Yun Fat appears in this later on).
Ok, so romantic Chow is the richest man…
Had to celebrate the year of the dragon with a lunar new years classic. This is a loose remake of Coming to America wherein Chow Yun Fat plays an insanely rich uh... tycoon who has a psychotic break and befriends a boy band & an alcoholic 10-year-old. He also plays a cab driver named "Mr. Stink" who honestly should have gotten his own spin off movie. This is an insane candy colored fever dream that as a westerner I probably don't understand half the jokes in... but I like it. A nice sweet lil movie.
This is truly a lousy, off the wall, inherently silly script, and you know what? That's OK. The humor may be too broad and obnoxious for my taste, but it has it's moments, especially the ones coming from Chow Yun-Fat, in a dual role, who seemed to had the time of his life while making the picture. Although the same can be said of the rest of the cast as well.
I'm not gonna lie, it was unbearable in places, because of the larger than life wackiness of some characters, was just a bit too much for me. Still, it's foremost a romantic comedy, and obviously because of its premise, a riffing and a loosed remake of the 1987 Eddy…
52/100
Doesn't have quite the same energy from the two To comedies I really liked so far(Happy Ghost III and The Eighth Happiness), but it's still a fun enough flick. Chow and Cheung in particular clearly have a ball with their roles and even though the execution/comedy/ideas aren't nearly as good, their charisma and the general light/fun tone make it all a solid watch. Good stuff, To doesn't miss(except that one time).
Following up on the smash hit that was All About Ah-long, Johnnie To went back to television for a two-part film called The Iron Butterfly. I haven’t been able to track it down, but it looks to be a modern cop/Triad thriller, with Anthony Wong and Mark Cheng and action choreography by Yuen Bun, all of whom will resurface later in To’s career. His next theatrical feature was 1990’s Lunar New Year comedy The Fun, the Luck and the Tycoon, a loose remake of Eddie Murphy’s hit Coming to America that reunited To with Ah-long stars Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang. While not the box office smash of To’s last two films with Chow, it was a financial success, but…
Chow Yun Fat is the Tycoon, a man with seemingly limitless amounts of cash. Trying to sidestep an arranged marriage to Nina Li, he goes AWOL and starts working as a busboy in a wonton restaurant run by Sylvia Chang. He falls in love with her, because she's Sylvia Chang, obviously.
The premise is fun, but the film seems content to coast by on the charisma of it's two leads. Thing is, that's actually okay, because the aforementioned charisma is massive. There are a couple of fun set piece scenes which will elicit mild chuckles, but the chief pleasure here is seeing Chang and Chow together on screen, and rooting for them to get together.
A few more jokes, and leaning more into the French farce elements that Hong Kong cinema seems to do so well, and this one could've been a classic. As it is though, The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon is merely a very good time.
Amiable 1990 comedy reuniting Johnnie To with his All About Ah-Long’s leads Chow Yun Fat and Sylvia Chang. Chow plays the heir to one of JK big fortunes that runs from his family and take refugee pretending to be an illegal Chinese worker in a downtown noodle restaurant. There are a few lovely interludes and many inspired gags, but never moves much beyond being rather slight. The film both gets a big kick out of the material world Chow flees and is repelled by it, a weird combination quite common on HK comedies of the era.
For the Lunar New Year comedy season of 1990, Cinema City assigned Johnnie To to transfer Eddie Murphy's comedy Coming To America to Hong Kong. Starring Chow Yun-Fat (in his only lead role of that year, after usually hitting the 8 to 11 movies per year mark in the latter half of the 80s) as a spoiled rich man who attempts to find something more genuine in life by working in a fast food restaurant. Along the way, he befriends and falls in love with the sister (Sylvia Chang) that co-runs the joint with her overbearing brother.
I can’t stop you if you’re bothered by the fact that they are tailoring this film after another but as part of that…
either johnnie to hadn’t entirely found his footing yet or this is an entirely compromised vision; it plays out more like my man godfrey than coming to america, but beyond’s involvement negates any of the text’s capitalist criticism. had lam bo sang been anything other than a man with nothing to lose taking a sightseeing tour through a poor man’s world, this could have had something to say about the conditions that these workers have to endure (and it probably could have remained funny) but chow yun fat’s fascinated foreigner coupled with a literal famous rock band (beyond) donning the costumes of The Poor leave any subtext swept under the rug: it’s there, but the compromises are too abundant to actually make…
