Alan Tam Wing-Lun, Jordan Chan Siu-Chun, Christine Ng Wing-Mei, Jaime Chik Mei-Jan, Babyjohn Choi, Jacky Cai, Hedwig Tam, Nat Chan Bak-Cheung, Bob Lam, Wu Fung, Joe Junior, Jessica Suen Huen, Lo Hoi-Pang, Wilson Chin Kwok-Wai, 6 Wing, C. Kwan, Joey Tay, Calvin Poon Yuen-Leung, Joey Tang

Hong Kong Cinema falls further into the depths with the incoherent and painfully unfunny triad comedy Fooling Around Jiang Hu. Directed by screenwriter Lam Chiu-Wing and most likely intended for star Alan Tam’s aging fanbase, Fooling stars Tam as triad boss Golden Alan, who’s in a mild gang war with the far younger Dragon Mountain (Jordan Chan). Their rivalry involves mostly uninteresting shtick, until Dragon’s wife Christine (Christine Ng) angles to trick Alan by pretending to feud with Dragon. Then that plotline is shelved while the story delves into Alan’s past, and how he lost his true love Luk Ling (Jaime Chik) and once participated in a singing contest. The latter of those two plotlines gives Alan Tam chances to croon and also give a heartfelt speech about how he was supposed to be a singer but became a triad instead. When that speech occurs, many gang members are present and nod gravely before starting to tear up. Fooling Around Jiang Hu) may be painfully unfunny but its drama is absolutely worse. A dumpster fire contains more entertainment value than this.

The problems with Fooling are numerous. Besides again pushing the tired gag about Alan Tam’s youthful looks (in flashbacks, Tam plays a man supposedly in his twenties), the film lacks a discernible attempt at storytelling. The haphazard plot is related through narration primarily by a radio DJ (Bob Lam), and sometimes other characters directly addressing the audience. The film offers some commentary on triad life, with metaphorical implications to Hong Kong itself, but the filmmakers never earn the right to get taken seriously. The editing and flow are horrendous – it’s like different editing teams worked on ten minute segments of the film without access to a script. Acting is undisciplined and requires actors to muddle through labored and nonsensical verbal exchanges. Particularly disappointing is Christine Ng, who’s terrible. Alan Tam and Jordan Chan have been known to overdo it, but Ng usually doesn’t annoy. Also, at 86 minutes the film still takes forever to end. I could go on but nobody wants that. Fooling Around Jiang Hu is just a bad day for Hong Kong Cinema and a worse one for the audience. (Kozo, 10/2016)