This is a movie directed by Jackie Chan that is some sort of a variation of Frank Capra's "A Pocketful of Miracles," where Chan plays country boy Cheng Wah Kuo, who accidentally becomes the head of a gang and purchases a lucky rose from lady Madam Kao (Ya-Lei Kuei) everyday for good luck. While battling a rival gang, Kuo tries to do a good deed for Madao Kao during her daughter's visit.
This film is great for its all-star cast and luscious 1930s setting, and while the story starts off with an exciting rival gang battle, the rest of the movie really drags on and on, with really nothing too suspenseful or eye-catching. All the hype about hiring singer Luming Yang (Anita Mui) to build up business for Kuo's nightclub to the gang concocting plans to help Madam Kao connecting with her daughter Belle (Gloria Yip) is just a bunch of all-talk and running around, not much substance or excitement to the plot.
I maybe got a few chuckles out of the movie - for everything else, I was just bored to tears. The movie was just too long and it appears that much of the film's elements including the huge cast were thrown in for, as one reviewer puts it, window dressing.
The action scenes were limited and the final battle was pretty boring. If you want to watch an exciting and captivating Hong Kong movie with an all-star cast, go with 1986's Shanghai Express" or 1991's The Banquet rather than this.
Grade D
This film is great for its all-star cast and luscious 1930s setting, and while the story starts off with an exciting rival gang battle, the rest of the movie really drags on and on, with really nothing too suspenseful or eye-catching. All the hype about hiring singer Luming Yang (Anita Mui) to build up business for Kuo's nightclub to the gang concocting plans to help Madam Kao connecting with her daughter Belle (Gloria Yip) is just a bunch of all-talk and running around, not much substance or excitement to the plot.
I maybe got a few chuckles out of the movie - for everything else, I was just bored to tears. The movie was just too long and it appears that much of the film's elements including the huge cast were thrown in for, as one reviewer puts it, window dressing.
The action scenes were limited and the final battle was pretty boring. If you want to watch an exciting and captivating Hong Kong movie with an all-star cast, go with 1986's Shanghai Express" or 1991's The Banquet rather than this.
Grade D