The Tricky King (1998)


	Tricky King		Return to Review Archive - T
	Year:	1998	Eric Kot and Chan Bak-Cheung
	Director:	Aman Cheung Man
	Producer:	Wong Jing
	Cast:	Nat Chan Bak-Cheung, Eric Kot Man-Fai, Athena Chu Yan, Lee Ann d'Alexandry d'Orengiani, Sherming Yiu Lok-Yi, Mark Lui Chun-Tak, Fast Beat (Tam Tak-Chi), Slow Beat (Chan Chi-Chuen), Simon Lui Yu-Yeung, Ma Tai-Lo, Lee Siu-Kei, Ng Chi-Hung, Pinky Cheung Man-Chi, Lo Meng
	The Skinny:	It's everything you expect from a movie directed by Aman Cheung and produced by Wong Jing!
	Review by Kozo:	The trickster antics best displayed in Wong Jing’s Tricky Brains are back. Wong is once again responsible, as he casts Chan Bak-Cheung (Ah Leck) as the master of a prankster company who claims he was a student of the original Jing Goo, Stephen Chow. Chan takes in Oh My Gott (Eric Kot), a doofus nice guy who’s down on his luck after being tricked repeatedly by Chan’s rival (Lo Meng). Gott joins Chan’s trick squad, consisting of Dry member Mark Lui, wacky personalities Fast Beat & Slow Beat, and the buxom Sherming Yiu. The team is hired by rich bastard Simon Lui to trick his half-sister, the amazing beautiful Lee Ann. However, she’s a pretty seasoned trickster herself, meaning that our heroes find themselves very busy. Meanwhile, Oh My Gott rediscovers Yandy (Athena Chu), the nurse he loved from afar many moons ago, who’s now working for Lee Ann. Wacky hijinks ensue that boggle the mind and tax patience, but thankfully it was Aman Cheung and not Wong Jing that directed this movie. Cheung at least tries to balance things out a bit. The result is predictably cheesy and tiresome, but not insulting or assaulting. Filler is provided by a variety of movie parodies, from the Japanese Love Generation soaps to Titanic to The Storm Riders. The actors are amusing enough, though the hormone factor definitely swings in the guy favor as Athena Chu, Lee Ann, and Sherming Yiu spend their time parading about in revealing gowns and bathing suits. The women in the audience have to contend with Ah Leck and Eric Kot, not to mention the strange looking duo of Fast Beat and Slow Beat. At least Mark Lui is reasonably handsome. It’s sad that I’m rating this film according to the physical beauty of its stars, but there isn’t much else to go on. The only innovation in the film’s various gags is a creatively cheap sense of sound design. You really can’t expect much from a film like this, and the filmmakers seem to understand that. This film is crap, but it means to be crap. Wong Jing really knows his business. Low aim, low shot: dead on target. (Kozo 1998)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Universe Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Mei Ah Laser Disc Co., Ltd.
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