Saturday, April 8, 2017

A Little TLC(w): Happy-Go-Lucky (1987)

Another kind of frenetic late ‘80s/early ‘90s Hong Kong comedy for Tony Leung Chiu-wai.  It reminds me a fair amount of The Royal Scoundrel, although a little less zany and with more farcical elements.  I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it good, but it was a decent, relatively inoffensive way to spend an hour-and-a-half.

Ma and Kang are brothers (stepbrothers?  Half brothers?  I didn’t quite keep track, but there’s something going on there) whose careers at their parents’ loan company hang in the balance as their parents go through a contentious divorce.  When their dad gets the idea that management of the company will be given to the brother who can woo Mina, the daughter of a wealthy tycoon, the race is on.  Mercenary Ma is all too pleased with the arrangement, but the awkward yet good-hearted Kang needs a little help in the romance department.  He tags in his friend Wei to help, but matters get more complicated when Wei realizes he’s falling for Mina.

The plot is somehow meandering and busy at the same time.  The film gets off to a pretty slow start – it feels like it takes a long time to learn what the central conflict actually is – but once it gets going, there are a few too many wheels turning at once for me to keep track of them.  The humor is broad and gets too wacky at times for my tastes, but overall, I think it’s more “meh” than bad.  The characters are mostly fun, and there are some good interactions amid the frenzy.

Most of my favorite moments are supplied by Leung’s Wei, a quick-talking orphan who makes up in charisma what he lacks in prospects.  He works at the loan company with Kang as a semi-competent repo guy, but his real passion is for concocting hustles.  A charming schemer, he puts me in the mind of a grownup Artful Dodger.  I love the scenes of him slipping effortlessly into some lie or another, coming up with a harebrained idea to either earn himself some money or get him and his friends out of a jam.  But while he’s pretty good, he’s no mastermind, and it takes him a lot longer than necessary to realize won’t win Mina by playing games.

I really like that Wei is so caring.  For a smooth talker who’s a little full of himself and isn’t overburdened with scruples, a lot of what he does is to help others.  He, Kang, and his adopted/foster(?) sister Jackie have a racket going to lose at mahjong to Wei and Jackie’s godmother, because he knows she’ll only accept money from him if she wins it in the game.  He’s very protective of Jackie, and he throws himself wholeheartedly in the plan to woo Mina on Kang’s behalf even though he likes Mina himself, proving more than willing to take a hit and look ridiculous for a sake of his friend.  It’s here, both in Wei’s sly cleverness and his earnest desire to help those he cares about, that the film gets a slight uptick from a somewhat-forgettable comedy to something with a bit of brains and heart.

Recommend?

In General – Not necessarily.  While it’s not bad, it’s not especially good.  If you like this type of broad humor, it might be good for a few laughs.

Tony Leung Chiu-wai – Again, not necessarily.  Although this was made the same year as People’s Hero, it makes me suspect Leung developed his dramatic chops before his comedic ones.  His performance is enjoyable in a goofy way, but subtlety, thy name is not Happy-Go-Lucky.  I’m guessing that, by the time I make it through his filmography, I’ll have found a few charming schemer characters who are more well-performed than Wei.

Warnings

Sexual references (including prostitution,) language, violence, and some drinking.

5 comments:

  1. I know this post is a few years old, but here goes anyway, I'm just curious where you managed to watch/get a copy of this particular Tony Leung film. I'm having trouble finding this particular one.
    I've been reading through a lot of your Tony Leung reviews, your thoughts on Shang-Chi were an interesting read.

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  2. It was an eBay find. As you said, it was from a few years ago. I remember it took me quite a while to find this one, just kept searching periodically until a copy popped up. It was a R0 DVD with English subs, just what I wanted.

    The bummer of being a Tony Leung Chiu-wai fan is that he's been in so much that's not readily available in the U.S. I've found a lot on eBay, either on R0 DVD or on VCD, and YouTube has sometimes been able to help me out. For some of the titles with less distinct names, I find that I have to be more specific, i.e. search "happy go lucky tony leung" or "happy go lucky 1987."

    Happy hunting! Glad you've been enjoying my reviews. Even though I know that Tony Leung has been in plenty of Hong Kong stuff that's even better than Shang-Chi, I still lost my mind seeing him in a Hollywood movie, in the MCU, on the big screen. He did NOT come to play in that film, so good!

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    1. Yeah, I'm having zero luck so far, with eBay and all the other places I usually buy from. All I've turned up so far is a website based in Pakistan of all places, they claim to have the film, but they want 50 bucks for shipping to the UK. Currently debating whether or not I can justify that. Or if it's even safe to buy from there.

      I've got I think 60 of his films/TV shows, it's just really frustrating hunting down the few I'm missing from the very early years of his career.

      I feel the same way, he's been in so many things that are way better than Shang-Chi, but how many times do you get to see Tony Leung on the big screen at your local cinema? Not an opportunity to be passed up, that's for sure.
      I'll be honest, I'm not the biggest fan of Marvel, but he was so freaking good as Wenwu. I'd happily watch a prequel covering his adventures, well misadventures, prior to the events of Shang-Chi.

      Do you collect his CDs as well? I've yet to encounter anyone (who speaks english) that has managed to get a copy of his Wind and Sand album. Apparently he sings the theme song of Infernal Affairs alone on there. I really really want that track. I have Andy Lau singing it alone, but that's nothing compared to hearing Tony sing it alone.

      Sorry for the essay by the way, Tony Leung fans are something of a rarity in real life.
      I'd be happy to compare notes on our respective Leung collections if you want?
      Or if you'd consider ripping me a copy of your DVD of Happy Go Lucky? I'd happily pay you for your troubles.

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    2. I know exactly what you mean. It's the sheer frustration of looking at those select IMDb entries and going, "WHERE ARE YOU?" The ones that are really haunting me right now are the projects that ARE available on a region-free DVD, but without any English subtitles. Why???

      I've only done films/TV so far, no albums--I've listened to a few of his songs on YouTube, but that's it. I'm currently in the "I've spent HOW MUCH buying DVDs/VCDs from eBay?" stage, but I'm well aware that that could change, hehe.

      And no apologies for the essay! I'd love to compare collections/thoughts on Tony Leung anytime! Feel free to email me at hogana00@gmail.com, so we can get into it!

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  3. Equally as annoying as the no subtitles problem is the few DVDs I've found which are dubbed into Mandarin, with no option for the original Cantonese audio. Found that out the hard way after getting stuck with a copy of Healing Hearts with only a Mandarin audio track.

    I've got my eye on a copy of The Clones on DVD, it doesn't have English subtitles but not only does Tony look really cute, it actually sounds like something I want to watch.
    But my Cantonese is pretty limited to the basics, so yeah, that'll be an expensive (and somewhat pointless) purchase.

    Cool, I'll send you an e-mail as soon as I've typed up my list for my collection.

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