Winner Takes All (2000)


	Winner Takes All		Return to Review Archive - W
	Year:	2000	Ruby Lin looks at Nicholas Tse
	Director:	Clifton Ko Chi-Sum
	Producer:	Raymond Wong Bak-Ming
	Cast:	Sam Hui Koon-Kit, Nicholas Tse Ting-Fung, Joey Yung Tso-Yi, Ruby Lin (Lam Sum-Yu), Alec Su (Tommy So Yau-Pang), Annie Wu (Ng Sun-Kwan), Karl Maka, Raymond Wong Bak-Ming, Ricky Hui Koon-Ying
	The Skinny:	Recycled Lunar New Year formula from Raymond Wong, the man who practically invented the Lunar New Year Formula. The packaging may be nice, but the it's the same old stuff underneath.
	Review by Kozo:	Puerile comedy from Raymond Wong, who apparently has never completely forgotten his Happy Ghost days. Sam Hui and Karl Maka are reunited, but their Aces Go Places glory is behind them. Instead, we get pretty young stars who mug horrendously for an indiscriminating camera. The plot (?) kicks off with the mystery of Master Swindler Wong (Sam Hui), who's most wanted after he swindles everyone and their brother. Popular newcomer Joey Yung heads to Singapore to find Wong, but instead runs into an assortment of hot young actors led by Nicholas Tse as a budding swindler. He’s after Annie Wu, who once swindled him. She's the assistant for the delectable Ruby Lin, whose dad was also swindled by Master Wong. Finally, Tommy So, a veteran of awful Chu Yen-Ping films is around to lust after Lin. If that weren’t enough, Raymond Wong appears as a priest and the whole film collapses under a morass of uninteresting antics. There are maybe one or two funny moments in this film, but this whole "throw everything at the wall in hopes that something will stick" attitude has got to go. There’s just nothing remotely compelling or even amusing about this stuff. It’s hard to even give props to the actors - none of them are established enough to warrant a star vehicle like this one. Sure, white-hot Nicholas Tse is the ultimate HK “It” boy, but he’s got to avoid crap like this and The Mirror. Joey Yung gets the Anita Yuen award for most cloying new actress. Yuen eventually matured into a true talent but Yung just mugs and pouts her way through one of the most annoying performances of the year. It’s pleasant to see Sam Hui and Karl Maka back, but too bad it’s in this uninspired piece of dreck. (Kozo 2000)
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Mei Ah Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

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