R E V I E W
MY LUCKY STAR
PLOT / PRODUCTION / PERFORMANCES / RATING
Chinese New Year's comedies are designed to have positive story lines and leave the viewer with a happy thought about the future (think THE CHINESE FEAST). Released in time for the early in the year 2003 holiday, MY LUCKY STAR simply makes one wonder when the movie will end.
Kok initially established himself as a comedy writer for Stephen Chow, contributing to such scripts as ALL'S WELL ENDS WELL, FLIRTING SCHOLAR, and TRICKY BUSINESS. Apart from Chow, Kok made ONLY FOOLS FALL IN LOVE for producer Johnnie To and CAUSE WE ARE SO YOUNG for producer Gordon Chan. He colloborated with Jackie Chan on 1999's GORGEOUS, a frothy Chinese New Year's comedy/action piece in which Tony Leung Chiu-Wai also appeared. He returned to the director's chair in 2002 with MARRY A RICH MAN, a romantic comedy that many derided but which I enjoyed. Here, though, Kok stiches together a multitude of platitudes about fortune and fate, but the humor is dated and flat. Scenes that should sparkle remain unbuffed and dull.
In the costumed past, Lai Ma Po (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) was a royal feng shui expert and Yip Ku Shing (Miriam Yeung) was a royal scholar. Lai's partner discerned that the Yip family was due for some good luck that might have threatened the emperor's dynasty and his own family fortunes, so he did something that caused three generations of bad luck for Yip and his descendants.
In modern-day Hong Kong, Yip (Miriam Yeung) lives on the spot where the streak of bad luck started. She is a clerk in a clothing shop with terrible luck; she is robbed constantly, keeps on tripping, and so forth. Lai Liu Po (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) is a feng shui expert advising business clients. On the verge of being fired (again) by her boss (Vincent Kok), Yip seeks Lai's advice to apply feng shui on the job. A romance appears ready to bud between the two, until Lai discovers Yip's family heritage, which is fated to bring bad luck to any who come in contact with her. Since his family motto is: "Know a Yip, Makes a Loss," complications are sure to arise.
A third-act "battle of feng shui experts" sounds funnier on paper than it's executed, and is symptomatic of the picture's problems as a whole: much more is promised than delivered. Tony Leung does his best, but the material is weak; poor Miriam Yeung was left stranded by director Kok and can do little more than squawk and pout.
The film is rated Category IIA with no profanity, violence, or sexual imagery.
REVIEW MEDIUM
As for the Tai Seng DVD, I can't recommend it over the Region 0 Hong Kong disk from Mei Ah, which is a two-disk special edition, enhanced for 16X9 playback, with both Cantonese and Mandarin audio tracks.
The Tai Seng edition is a little less expensive than most imports available from U.S.-based DVD shops, and was released very quickly after the flick's Hong Kong cinema run concluded, but it is also entirely feature-less. The burned-in (non-removable) white Chinese and English subtitles are too transparent, which makes it hard to read them at times against lighter-colored backgrounds.
Most troublesome of all, the picture looks weak, with a generally washed-out appearance.
RECOMMENDATION
Pass. Even devoted fans of the two stars will find little cheer here.
Copyright 2000-2003 by Peter A. Martin. All rights reserved.
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