The Gambling Ghost (1991)
Sammo Hung plays three different characters: Fatty, Fatty's father and Fatty's grandfather, Hung Kau. Fatty is a hotel worker, yearning for sudden wealth. Therefore, he, and his co-worker, enter the gambling world, to the dismay of his father. When Fatty hits rock bottom, the ghost of his grandfather resurrects to help him. However, Fatty learns that his grandfather was murdered, therefore, he will stop at nothing to avenge his death.
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This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
I'll tell you why so serious
Did you people see the same film I saw?
The first must-see film of the year.
In this Hong Kong ghost comedy, Sammo Hung plays three different characters: Fatty, Fatty's father and Fatty's grandfather, Hung Kau. Fatty is a hotel worker and yearns for easy money and becoming rich. Therefore, he and his friend, Hoi (Hoi Mang), try their luck gambling. When Fatty hits rock bottom, the ghost of his grandfather appears and decides to help him, but only if he helps his soul avenge his death.The comedy is average at best, not much real laugh-out-loud moments, and the humor is pretty broad and general, nothing too memorable to remark about. The ghost + gambling + revenge angle was pretty intriguing in the film, though, and kept the plot a little well-paced from start to finish, but the elements do get drowned out sometimes in some of the broad humor.In addition to the starring roles of Sammo Hung and Hoi Mang, there is is delightful co-starring role of Nina Li Chi as car-smuggling beauty Lily and James Wong as the one of the villains. There is also a wide range of well-known actors in the movie such as Richard Ng, Stanley Fung, Corey Yuen, Paul Chun, Lam Ching-Ying and Wu Ma. However, most were just, unfortunately, cameo appearances.The martial arts of the film doesn't come until late in the movie; however, it's not a bad tour-de-force and has some cool Kung-Fu moments.It's not a bad movie, could have used more comedy and ghost horror, but it's serviceable enough to entertain people.Grade B-
Sammo Hung stars as three characters in this martial arts comedy, with Mang Hoi in a supporting role as the long-suffering friend of one of the incarnations of the portly kicker. Unfortunately, this film is nowhere near as funny as it often thinks it is, and generally fails to ignite a spark of interest in the audience. So many superb actors are criminally underused, such as Lam Ching-Ying, Richard Ng, and Billy Chow. The comedy is broad (as is expected) yet is often tiresome, and the fights are rare and of lower quality than we have come to expect from the legendary Sammo (bar a few moments in the final reel). Only Wu Ma's performance as a crazy swordsman remains in the memory. If you are not anticipating a kung-fu fest but are desperate for a Sammo Hung movie, then you might as well give this a go.