The Top Bet
Reviewed by YTSL
The gambling movie is a genre of a film that looks
to be peculiar to Hong Kong cinema. Among the more “classic” efforts
of this group of works is the multiple sequels spawning “All for the Winner”.
Like with the particular production credited with having made Stephen Chow
Sing Chi the King of Comedy that he undoubtedly now is (at least in East
Asia, even if not yet globally), “God of Gamblers II” and “God of Gamblers
III: Back to Shanghai” star the talent affectionately known to his fans and
many others as Sing Jai. Consequently, those two offerings came to
be linked to that Jeff Lau and Corey Yuen Kwai co-directed work (as well
as the first “God of Gamblers” that had the also popular Chow Yun-Fat in
the title role)...despite their having been helmed by Wong Jing.
Although THE TOP BET is lesser known than many of the other works (no doubt
because Stephen Chow only has a cameo part, and Chow Yun-Fat never makes
an appearance, in it), this film may well have the best claim for being the
follow up to “All for the Winner”. For one thing, it is like that 1990
hit in having Jeff Lau and Corey Yuen Kwai at the helm. For another,
this familiar face filled offering boasts (re-)appearances -- albeit often
only in the forms of cameos and/or flashbacks -- by the likes of Cheung Man,
Sandra Ng, Corey Yuen Kwai along with Stephen Chow as well as Ng Man Tat
(who once more plays the Uncle San whose body parts are apt to react adversely
when addressed as such by his biological relatives) and Paul Chun Pui (who
reprises his villainous Hung Kwong role).
For a third, THE TOP BET’s story looks to start where “All For the Winner”
ends, albeit with Stephen Chow’s Ah Shing character deciding to reward himself
by going off on a world tour. Accordingly, the champion gamester was
not available to compete in the Super King of Gambling Competition that a
disgruntled Hung Kwong decides to stage in order to regain the gaming crown
that he had recently lost to the self-anointed Saint of Gamblers. Furthermore,
as Ng Man Tat’s character initially proclaimed to no avail to Jeff Lau’s
deranged but powerful Taiwan Chung character, Shing had not left his uncle
with any means to contact him during the time that he was away from Hong
Kong (and his native Mainland China).
Faced with the options of being paid with HK$10 million if he came up with
someone who would win the gambling championship or getting killed by Taiwan
Chung’s men if he didn’t, a desperate Uncle Tat decided to put his life into
the hands of a self-proclaimed Queen of Gambling (The irrepressible individual
named as Fanny as well as Yau Hei is essayed by the Carol (AKA Dodo) Cheng).
As the not exactly consistently canny man belatedly discovered though, the
woman who he had seen depriving some fishermen of their precious fresh catch
-- in a gambling den whose currency of choice came in the form of edible
marine life! -- turned out to be a fraudster rather than genuine gambling
genius.
As she showed at a tension fraught -- but still pretty funny to witness --
meeting with Taiwan Chung, however, Fanny turned out to not be entirely bereft
of luck. Similarly, Uncle Tat ended up having the good fortune of being
paid a visit during his time of need by Ah Shing’s equally special powers
endowed sister (Mei is portrayed by a show-stealing Anita Mui). This
anti-capitalist woman actually had been sent across the border by her superior
security officer (who is played by Yuen Wah) to arrest her brother and bring
him back to their Communist motherland. Expectedly however, and even
after displaying a considerable amount of reluctance to get her relative
out of the bind that he had effectively gotten himself into, Mei ends up
assisting Fanny in competing against the likes of the nefarious Hung Kwong
(who, this time around, also has psychic assistance of his own courtesy of
Lau Shun’s Yim Chung character).
Lest there be any doubt re THE TOP BET not being able to rival a Wong Jing
gambling movie in terms of weirdness, here’s pointing out that Mei has the
ability to do such as make a man vomit up mahjong tiles and another to expel
the contents of a fish bowl out of his mouth as well as turn a woman into
a bearded hermaphrodite! Also, while this “Fairy of Gambling” is apt
to be on the ignorant side when it comes to being able to tell the difference
between volcanic ash (that is supposed to act as a facial cosmetic) and quick
drying cement, she’s no slouch either in a fight. Additionally, after
Mei embeds a giant acupuncture needle into her head, Fanny becomes one other
“only in Hong Kong movies” gambler whose bag of tricks includes the so important
magical art of “card rubbing”... ;)
My rating for this film: 6.5