Do sing

Sing (Stephen Chow) is a mainland China country boy who arrives in Hong Kong to visit his Uncle "Blackie Tat" (Ng Man-tat). When Sing stays with his uncle and his friends in their apartment, Blackie soon learns of Sing's supernatural ability to see through objects and, later on, his ability to change playing cards by rubbing them. He takes advantage of this and turns Sing into the Dou Seng or the "Saint of Gamblers". After getting into a fight with several alleyway gamblers he meets the lovely Yee-mung A. K. A. "Lady Dream", and becomes infatuated with her. Sing quickly becomes a rival to the King and must win his way through a world competition to prove his skill.

The likeable Stephen Chow has the ability to see through things in this lively, glossy HK spoof of gambler films that were popular in the late 80's-early 90's, and there's plenty of fun to be had here, especially with a great performance by Man-Tat Ng, who is a chronic gambler looking to win the big stakes and his nephew ( Chow) is the key to that. Quite an enjoyable film, with nary a dull moment, not with the humour and silly moments running rife. There's some energetic comic fights - funny one is when every time Chow tries to hit a guy another man beats him to it. Man Cheung lends some eye candy, and does some butt-kicking, too.

Stephen Chow stars as a young man who goes to visit his uncle (played by Ng Man Tat of course). When his uncle finds out he has a supernatural power that allows him to see through objects, he gets Chow to become a gambler. Things don't start off so great for Chow, but he finally puts his special power to use when a certain woman is around. When the King of Gamblers finds out Chow will be in the World Gambling Tournament, he has his gang take Chow out. After his lady friend is kidnapped, he may not be able to participate in the finals of the tournament.

The comedy is very funny and not many jokes fall flat. In one scene Chow makes his first entrance as the Saint of Gamblers and walks into the room in slow motion. I probably shouldn't try to describe it, but it's a must see moment and had me crying with laughter. There are plenty of other great parts like when Chow tries to do some fancy shuffling and sends all the cards flying into a guy's face. Paul Chun does a good job as the King of Gamblers and the whole cast is enjoyable. Jeffrey Lau is one of my favorite Hong Kong directors and he really makes the gambling scenes fun. You never know what kind of movie you will get from him, but they are usually good. I have seen every Stephen Chow movie except his TVB work, and this is one of my favorites. It's a brilliant showcase of his comic genius.

The fight scenes are not long, but still really good. Corey Yuen's choreography is as masterful as it gets. Chow is not one of the better action stars, but he can can get the job done. With Corey Yuen helping him out, expect the action to be top notch. There are 4 fights, and the one shootout scene is very exciting. Like most Chow movies from 1990-1996, Cheung Man plays his love interest, and thanks to Corey Yuen, she isn't just eye candy but also gets to show off her athletic skills. 'Last Hero of China', 'Fist of Fury 91' and 'Sword Stained With Royal Blood' are the only movies I have seen where she looks this good.

From Seasonal Films and Ng See Yuen, comes one of my favourite Chow Sing Chi (and Jeff Lau) films, All For The Winner - a ridiculously hilarious comedy that spoofs Wong Jing's mega-hit, God Of Gamblers, parodying many memorable scenes, music and even artwork to excite any fan of Hong Kong film!

Of course, it has a lot of its own originality also, including some great action scenes courtesy of co-director Corey Yuen Kwai - who also co-stars. He is joined by the always fantastic Sandra Ng and Chow's regular right-hand-man, Ng Man Tat who plays his uncle Tat, with the majority of the films comedy based around the incredible on-screen chemistry these guys have together due to their long working career alongside each other.

Co-director Jeff Lau gets his obligatory role, this time as a big boss gambler, and the rest of the cast is pretty strong with the great (Sharla) Cheung Man and Wan Yeung Ming - both of which play the aids of King Of Gamblers, Paul Chun, a very recognisable face from almost 200 Hong Kong movies. Even the great Chow Yun Fat gets a brief appearance albeit through a video when Chow and Ng are watching God of Gamblers in order to learn how to behave at gambling matches...

And of course, when you have a country bumpkin as daft as Chow Sing Chi trying to play the suave, cool city slicker (now known as the Saint of Gamblers), you know its just going to get even more ridiculous! Cue the slow motion walking, insane card tricks, and hilarious reactions which shows Chow at his best with lots of laugh-out-loud moments!

Ironically, Chow Sing Chi would also star in God of Gamblers 2 the same year playing a role pretty much exactly the same in director Wong Jing's satirical sequel that also stars Andy Lau as his character from the original.

The great Corey Yuen provides some fantastic action scenes, even giving us a great shot of Cheung Man in a slo-mo, John Woo/Chow Yun Fat inspired, double-gun moment before letting loose on the bad guys in a rescue mission. The chubby faced Sheila Chan gets in on the action in a restaurant fight, along with Ng Man Tat in a dress... As per usual, when Chow Sing Chi gets a bit of action time, the Bruce Lee moves start coming out - including one such moment that may have inspired him to do Fist Of Fury 1991 and leaves the cross-dressing uncle Tat foaming at the mouth...

A lot of people I know (and other critics) can't handle Chow Sing Chi's kind of humour, but I love it and do think he is one of the funniest actors ever. Personally, I believe he has inspired many a Jim Carrey and Will Farrell moment with his insane style of comedy, and probably don't laugh out as loud at other comedies like I do when watching his! And in All For The Winner, there are far too many to mention!

Overall: I can't love this movie enough. Definitely one of the best action comedies from Hong Kong's golden years!

All For The Winner (1990) was a Tawainese produced parody of the God of Gamblers. Stephen Chow stars 'The Saint of Gamblers", a mainland country bumpkin who comes to Hong Kong to visit his uncle Blackie Tat (Ng Man Tat). When Blackie learns about Stephen's special gift, he tries to turn him into a money making machine. Chow's favorite comic foil Sandra Ng co-stars as Blackie's roommate, co-director Corey Yuen also has a role as Sandra's husband. Paul Chiang plays the Gambling King and the other co-director Jeff Lau co-stars as his rival.

All For The Winner was a huge success and it cemented Stephen Chow's place as one of the biggest stars in Hong Kong. Wong Jing was so impressed with this parody, he produced an off shoot sequel starring Stephen Chow. This chance meeting made the two a huge amount of money and several funny productions as well. "Sharla" Cheung Man (co-star of God of Gamblers) plays Yee Mong (Beautiful Dream) a woman that Chow pines for but doesn't believe he's good enough for (he follows her through a few more sequels).

A sleeper hit throughout Asia. The film has several excellent action set pieces (courtesy of Corey Yuen) and the comic timing of Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat is unbelievable.

Highly recommended!

Followed by God of Gamblers 2. All for the Winner 2 was produced by the Jeff Lau/ Corey Yuen team co-starring most of the principle actors from the first film with Anita Mui co-starring as Chow's sister.

xxx

Stephen Chow comes from Gwangzhou to Taiwan to stay with his uncle Man-Tat Ng, Uncle is a degenerate gambler, and it turns out that Chow has two, count 'em, two superpowers: he can see through objects, which allows him to see cards through their backs, and he can change one thing to another, like the ime he changes a ticket of horse #4 to the winning 9. Stephen winds up representing Taiwan in an international gambling competition,where people are willing to kidnap and kill opponents to win. He also falls wildly in love with Man Cheung, an absolutely deadly spy except when the plot calls for her to be kidnapped, which makes Chow's powers fail.

It's as filled with ridiculous and funny gags as any Stephen Chow movie, with Man-Tat Ng getting in a fair share as the second banana. What it lacks is a sense of progress, that this leads someplace, as the gags seem added just to fill out screen time. I laughed a lot, but even the funniest sequence must connect to the rest of the movie.