All's Well Ends Well '97
Reviewed by YTSL
The family-centric all star cast Chinese New
Year comedy is a Hong Kong movie specialty that this (re)viewer has a weakness
for. Thus far, I've found quite a bit to enjoy in those of the often
loose and chaotic but nevertheless rib-ticklingly funny affairs that bear
producer-actor Raymond Wong's particular imprint (e.g., "The Eighth Happiness",
"It's a Wonderful Life" and that with "All's Well, Ends Well" in their
title). This 1997 offering is no exception to the rule.
ALL'S WELL, ENDS WELL '97 has the (now) familiar
structure of a series of admittedly flimsy plots and subplots which revolve
around a father, those of his children who still live in the same house
as him, and their sometimes not sufficiently romance-filled romantic lives.
This particular offering's widower patriarch comes in the form of the deceptively
stern Roy Chiao. Raymond Wong plays the eldest of three sons, a businessman
who is married to a very nice but made-up to look beyond plain Christine
Ng. The versatile Francis Ng has the role of the shy perennial scholar
son who wants to cling on to his first love -- a difficult personality
played with some relish by Amanda Lee -- much to the chagrin of his family,
who would prefer to go for the honorable woman essayed by pooky-faced Wu
Chien Lien. Stephen Chow plays the truly irresponsible son who cavorts
around town in the company of such as Gigi Lai but whose eye gets caught
by a martial arts expert who masquerades as an idiot -- to guard her widowed
mother from bad suitors -- surprisingly convincingly portrayed by Christy
Chung.
ALL'S WELL, ENDS WELL '97 is a farce from the
start but the absurdities begin to particularly pile on in earnest when
two of the brothers play a trick on the third which leads to his in turn
deciding to comprehensively and long-term fool his entire family.
For reasons that I can't quite pinpoint though, the actions of Stephen
Chow -- who plays the individual who feels wronged and attempts to get
his own back by literally becoming a fool for much of the film -- were
not the ones which elicited the biggest laughs out of me. Instead,
it is that which involves Wu Chien Lien -- which has her character pretending
that she's been be supernaturally possessed -- and those which had Christy
Chung twice putting on great acrobatic and battling shows which positively
sent me into hysterics (N.B. This film's action sequences were choreographed
by Chin Kar Lok)!
Additionally, the subplot which focused on Christine
Ng and Raymond Wong -- but also involved Emil Chow (as an outgoing photographer
cum author admired by Ng's retiring housewife character) as well as others
in ALL'S WELL, ENDS WELL '97's main family -- turned out to feel more substantive
than one might think could be possible. For that matter, so too did
a short conversation between a father and what he thought was an already
asleep -- and, anyways, beyond understanding -- son. To some extent
though, such might have been expected to exist in one of those films that
can seem as intent on ultimately celebrating family solidarity as well
as ringing in a new lunar year. It also was not unpredictable for
this 1997 effort to make references to the Handover that would occur later
that year and take the stand that those who chose to see Britain -- rather
than China -- as their motherland were not particularly admirable individuals.
For the most part though, this is a film that
is meant to not be taken seriously at all. As such, it will appeal
more to those viewers who delight in spotting cameo appearances rather
than political references. For the record, according to the cast
list provided by Joseph Fierro's sadly defunct Hong Kong Cinema site, the
hardly classic -- and at times tired feeling -- but still enjoyable ALL'S
WELL, ENDS WELL '97 gets briefly graced by a whole bunch of movie folk
who include: Alfred Cheung (who directed this work), Leslie Cheung
(who also appeared -- and for a much greater length of time -- in the previous
two "All's Well, Ends Well"s), Chingmy Yau, Law Kar-Ying, Wong Yuk-Long,
Michael Chow, Teddy Robin Kwan, Anita Lee, Fun Nei, Diana Pang Dan, Pauline
Yeung, Liz Kong, Chu Kit-Yi, Josie Ho Chiu-Yee, Yeung Yuk-Mui, Cheng Yim-Lai,
Si Yi-Lin, Chan Yi-Ming, Michael Lam, Simon Lui, Bao Hei Ching, Law Koon-Lan,
Law Ho-Kei, Fung Yi-Ching, Choi Kwong-Kin, Si Kai-Keung and Lee Shun-Yun.
My rating for the film: 6.5
DVD Information:
Distributed by Mei Ah
The transfer is very nice - clean and sharp.
Letterboxed
Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks
The subtitles are Chinese or English or None
Chapters - 15
There are no trailers or other extras.