Le Flic de Hong-Kong

Funny! This is a very classic kind of kung-fu comedy.

It is the second film in the series after Winners and Sinners. Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars is the film after this one. I would certainly recommend this series of movies. My favourite parts of this film are the fight scenes, but the funniest moments are when Sammo Hung is with his friends e.g. the scene where they pretend that there are robbers in their house to get close to Sibelle Hu. I like the end of the film as there is a lot of fighting between Jackie Chan and Dick Wei, Sammo and Lau Kar Wing and Yuen Biao and Lam Ching Ying. This is definitely the film, which made me watch martial art movies, particularly when they are comedies.

A follow-up to Winners and Sinners,this is,like that film,essentially a comedy starring Samo Hung and some Hong Kong comedians,the Lucky Stars, with what really amounts to little more than an extended cameo from Jackie Chan. He has more scenes in this one,but despite what DVD covers might say he certainly doesn't 'star' in the film.

Opening with some great car and fight action involving Chan and his fellow Peking Opera School graduate Yuen Biao,the film than becomes,for almost the next hour,a series of comedy set pieces involving the Lucky Stars. As well as slowing the film to a halt the problem is that very little of the humour seems funny to these western eyes and may only be understood by Hong Kong audiences {as in a lengthy sequence on a bus involving jokes about Chinese dialects and the like}. Much of it is taken up with the men all trying to find ways to get close to female star Sibelle Hu, in what looks alarmingly like sexual harassment. Only Eric Tsang's childlike behaviour and Righard Ng's double takes,plus a gag about a walnut,seem to work.

After what seems like an eternity of this stuff the last 20 mins is all fantastic action,with a very imaginative fairground set piece which may have influenced Beverley Hills Cop 3,ninjas,and some terrific fighting involving Chan,Hing,Biao and some other Hong Kong action folk. Maybe it's a case of too little too late. As with some other Hong Kong films the action seems to cancel out the comedy and vice versa. It's OK,but Winners and Sinners before it and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stare are better.

This movie begins with some jaw-dropping, "holy s**t" stunts performed by Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. Then Biao's character gets taken as a hostage by the villains, and the next hour belongs to Sammo Hung and his gang, the infamous "Lucky Stars". Their comedy is often labored, and always lowbrow, but it manages to be occasionally funny. I've seen three films with them now, so I'm more accustomed to their brand of humor, but they're definitely not to everyone's taste. In the final 20 minutes, we get to the fight scenes, which are choreographed in the usual inimitable Jackie-Sammo style, yet I have some complaints: most of the fights are either too brief or too choppily intercut with each other. For example, what could have been the ultimate cinematic catfight, between the stunningly sexy Sibelle Hu and the beautifully muscular Michico Nishiwaki, is pretty much a disappointment: too brief, intercut with a parallel Sammo fight, and Ms. Nishiwaki comes to a rather demeaning end. Another example is the Jackie Chan vs. Dick Wei fight, which is over much too quickly. Both Nishiwaki and Wei are better showcased in the excellent Hong Kong actioner "In The Line Of Duty 3". In fact, probably everyone involved with "My Lucky Stars" is better showcased somewhere else. But for fans of the genre and the stars, the movie is worth a viewing. (**)

Jackie's got a smaller, more serious role here, but I'd say it's worth it. You gotta have a penchant for goofy stuff though. This group is pretty enjoyable together, and the bits with Chan battling his way through the Haunted House is well worth it. Sort of a "minor" Jackie fil,m, it's worth a watch.