Nat Chan, Yuen Qiu, Pinky Cheung, Monica Chan, Bosco Wong
Director: Lam Tze-chung
If there's a lesson to be learned from this feeble mahjong farce it's that comedians, even good ones, don't necessarily have an understanding of what makes something funny.
Director-writer-actor Lam Tze-chung, whose roly-poly presence radiated good humour under the tutelage of Stephen Chow Sing-chi in Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004), shows that little of the maestro's brilliance is reflected from his pupil. While Lam's directorial debut, I'll Call You (2006), elicited an occasional titter, his sophomore feature is so sophomoric that it generates more groans than guffaws.
The entire affair is drearily generic, pretty much following the Lunar New Year family comedy formula but minus big stars, a big budget, and big or small laughs. The unoriginal plot centres around the backstabbing clan of gambling king Ho (Nat Chan Pak-cheung, below). The white-haired coot's fortune is coveted by his three quarrelling wives (Yuen Qiu, Pinky Cheung Man-chi, and Monica Chan Fat-yung), along with their children and in-laws, none of whom are particularly amusing in their sleaziness.
The only good guy is Fai (Bosco Wong Chung-chak), the long-lost progeny of Ho's long-lost lover and the only one who tries to do what's right for the old man. Not that a viewer could care whether or not Ho survives with assets intact.