The Lord of Amusement (1999)



	The Lord of Amusement		Return to Review Archive - L
	Year:	1999
	Director:	Ivan Lai Kai-Ming
	Cast:	Nick Cheung Ka-Fai, Francis Ng Chun-Yu, Sherming Yiu Lok-Yi, Ng Man-Tat, Alvina Kong Yan-Yin, Celia See Lim-Chi, Gabriel Harrison (Hoi Chun-Kit), To Ka-Yin, Elle Choi Shuet-Man, Lam Kei-Kei, Kai Kai, Wong Yat-Fei, Lee Lik-Chee, Lau Shek-Yin, Tai Chi-Wai, Bat Leung-Gum, Shing Fui-On, Peter Lai Bei-Tak
	The Skinny:	Uneven and shoddy comedy starring the odd team of Nick Cheung and Francis Ng. Yet another uninspired film from director Ivan Lai.
	Review by Kozo:	The Lord of Amusement is low rent God of Cookery knock-off that has some sly homages to its sources of inspiration, but ultimately fails due to crappy writing and even crappier direction. Nick Cheung stars as Wah, a country bumpkin who's promoted by his obseqious boss Ng Man-Tat. He's made manager of a HK nightclub, but the whole thing is just a scam to ruin the club. Wah wants to save the club to please the obligatory love interest (new idol singer Elle), so he hires the legendary "King of Entertainment," who's played with bizarre goofiness by Francis Ng. Ng does so, and falls in love with club girl Sherming Yiu. Then there's more shtick and the gripping tension of whether or not they'll be able to save the club. I'll ruin the movie for you: they do save it, and everyone goes home happy! This is not a movie to be seen if you like surprises. It's just standard quickie crap which was designed for maximum return on a minimum investment. It'd be nice if the result were in any way above-average, but that's really not the case here. The hackneyed but workable premise gets submarined by bad execution, and the whole thing becomes unnecessary. This isn't really a terrible film, but it isn't good, either. (Kozo 2000)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Universe Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of AznFilms.com
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