The Fun, the Luck and the
Tycoon
This seems to be a peculiar film to fall between
The Killer and Hard Boiled in Chow Yun Fat’s career. It is so wildly different
than either of them in terms of style, budget and significance. That is
of course one of the things about CYF that makes him so interesting. He
took on roles of all types and does them all with great charisma.
This one is a fairly fluffy, but funny comedy
done very much in the manner of the screwball comedies of the 1930’s. CYF
is the tycoon with more money than God and more servants than I have dust
balls under my bed. He has never had to work a day in his life for all
of this. Not bad. The only problem is that his rich aunts from where this
wealth springs have arranged a wedding to Nina Li for him. I could live
with that! Nina is a money hungry conniver
who pretty much steals every scene she is in. Her primping prancing doll
like walk is one of the funniest things I have seen (especially when CYF
imitates it) but she is still quite the knockout. CYF isn’t too happy with
this arrangement though.
One evening he wanders into a party and is mistaken
for a waiter. He just goes with it and ends up getting a job as a janitor
in a fast food restaurant. He loves it. The scrubbing, the cooking, everything
about doing an honest day’s work. CYF literally smiles through this entire
film. The fact that Sylvia Chang also works at the restaurant doesn’t hurt.
There is of course the obligatory (in screwball comedies) shallow rich
guy chasing after Sylvia as well.
By the end of this film I guarantee that you will
be smiling as much as CYF. There is one classic routine where everyone
has to hide for one reason or another and so they create a human table
(with tablecloth) and one by one everyone including the cat and some rats
hide under there.
My rating for this film: 7.5