When Fortune Smiles
Director: Anthony Chan Yau
Year: 1990
Rating: 7.0
This relatively obscure
Stephen Chow film turned out to be a delightful surprise as it consistently
amuses and pleases. It was made in the same year (1990) as his breakthrough
film “All for the Winner” but seems to have fallen through the cracks when
people talk about their favorite Chow films. The story line is classic
screwball zaniness and offers Chow ample opportunity to create some terrific
comedic skit like routines and also display his physical skills. A wealthy
tycoon is on his deathbed and his son Anthony Wong is doing everything he
can to persuade the dying man to change the will in his favor. The Second
Master (Lam Kau) interrupts in time to hear the dying man's final wish -
to make sure that his daughter Fei-Fei inherits all of his money and that
Anthony gets zippo.
Fei Fei has been living in Paris for years and is sent for. At the same
time, the Second Master's son (Shing Fui On) realizes that he must change
the will or he too will be left out entirely. So her hires a petty thief
- Stephen Chow - who he has captured cheating in his gambling casino (by
sucking the till money through an under the table vacuum device - but instead
of money he inhales an ashtray full of cigarette butts!).
Anthony Wong isn't exactly staying put either and when he notices that Rubbish
Feng (Sandra Ng) is the spitting image of Fei-Fei, he kidnaps the real Fei-Fei
and substitutes her with Ng. Ng's character is a can collector and she continues
to nearly give away her identity by grabbing and crushing every can she find.
One fellow who realizes her real identity tortures her by rolling empty cans
in her direction and she needs all the will power she can muster not to pounce
on it in front of the cream of society. The story gets even more complicated
when Chow is discovered trying to steal the will (but gets Shing's birth certificate
instead) and after first pretending to be a French maid then pretends to
be an old love of Fei-Fei. Of course, Sandra doesn't know any better and
so goes along with it thinking this is the truth. Shing and Chow then decide
to fall back on a new plan - for Chow to marry Ng and share her money with
Shing. Neither Chow nor Shing know that Sandra is an impostor.
This set up all takes place in the first twenty minutes of the film and
from this ensues various funny complications for the next 70 minutes. Along
the way, Chow manages to have two excellent fights with Billy Chow and a
hilarious pantomime scene with female comedian Mui Siu-wai in which Chow
who has been captured and jailed by Anthony - pantomimes that she should
unlock the door so that he can go the bathroom and she pantomimes back methods
to him on how plug up the oncoming problem!
It's a wonderfully light comedy - all of Chow’s future comical trademarks
are on view - and it is quite sweet as well. Anthony Chan who directs this
film also shows up as the inept but technology savvy detective.
