Shi lai yun zhuan

April 2021

Here we have "Those Merry Souls" starring Yuen Biao and Eric Tsang.

This is another typical comedy with ghostly elements, and its a bit of a mixed bag.

Plenty of cameos on top of the main stars, including Sammo Hung and Richard Ng, so plenty of recognisable faces.

This is my sort, i love all these.

8/8.5ish out of 10.

Yuen Biao and Eric Tsang star as Chiu Chi-Lung and Ng Kuai-Tak, two movie stunt actors who are suspicious of Lung's father Chiu's mysterious behavior. Unbeknownst to them, Chiu was commissioned as a "messenger" by the Spirit World to take newly-departed souls to the other side. However, Chiu refuses to take Tak's soul after he suffers an accident and is punished for his insubordination. Therefore, Lung the next "messenger."

The "messenger" plot is pretty intriguing, with Stanley Fung playing a very convincing role as Chiu - mysterious, yet comedic and realistic. Yuen Biao plays a mellow and subdued character, which is a departure to his usual type-casted martial arts roles and Eric Tsang is the usual bumbling, hopelessly in love and goofy self. While this is a ghost movie, a large part of the movie sways away to unnecessary subplots of the main characters dating one another, which creates an uneven picture in my opinion. However, with the introduction of actor Lam Ching-Ying later on into the movie, the more exciting ghost plot picks up and saves the film.

Overall, it's not a bad ghost comedy featuring Lam Ching-Ying in one of his pre-Mr. Vampire movie roles.

Grade B-