Happy Ghost III
I am not really one to use the word cute too often,
but there is no other way to describe Maggie Cheung in this film. She almost
overdoses on cuteness. This was an early film of hers – and she really
wasn’t much of an actress yet so she pretty much depends on winning the
audience over with her pouts and grins. Needless to say, I fell victim
to every pout and every grin. Maggie just effects me that way.
There really isn’t a lot more going on in this
film though it certainly is amiable enough and it supplies some innocent
laughs along the way. It was the third in a series of five Happy Ghost
films from Cinema City and Raymond Wong. I haven’t seen any of the others
in the series, but I gather the Happy Ghost is an ancestor of Raymond’s
that he can bring forth to help him in dire needs. There really is very
little of him in this film though.
Maggie is dead when the film begins – but Maggie
is pretty cute even when she is dead. She is up in heaven getting ready
for reincarnation. Tsui Hark - in a cameo - is in charge of matching up
folks with their new lives and Maggie convinces him to find her a musical
family because she was a failed singer in her previous life. Tsui finds
just the right family and tells Maggie where she has to go to be reincarnated.
If you didn’t know already, the spirit has to jump into the womb just as
birth is about to take place. You can’t be too late or too early. As in
all things – timing is everything.
Everything gets bungled because of Raymond Wong
and Maggie is told that she has to wait a month for the next opportunity
for reincarnation. With a lot of time on her hands, Maggie decides to make
life miserable for Wong for messing up her reincarnation. All of this is
fairly pie in the face/falling trousers type of harmless stuff. Maggie
can also possess other people and does so with Fennie Yuen, a student of
Wongs, causing further complications with some triad folks.
Raymond first summons the Happy Ghost and but
then decides the best plan is to romance Maggie. In a musical video number
Maggie dances the night away. Problems lie ahead of course for this happy
couple.