I LOVE HONG KONG 2013 (我爱香港2013恭喜发财) (2013)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Chung Shu Kai
Cast: Alan Tam, Veronica Yip, Nat Chan, Stanley Fung, Bosco Wong, Michael Tse, Kate Tsui, Joyce Cheng
RunTime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Clover Films & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 February 2013

Synopsis: Hong Kong of the 1970s - a place bustling with opportunities and riches!

The earnest Song (starring Bosco Wong) befriended the crafty Ha (starring Michael Tse) and the latter also helped Song found his first job: a waiter at a Chinese Teahouse. The boss of the Teahouse is a kind man, who has an array of quirky characters as his staff. The colorful characters attracted an interesting patronage, making it a happening place for the community.

Fate has it that both Song and Ha fell for the same girl: May (starring Kate Tsui) who is from a well-to-do family. It’s face off between the geek and the smooth-talker. While romance is blossoming between May and Song, May’s best friend Yuen (starring Joyce Cheng) is a gutsy girl who insisted that bad boys are attractive and only have eyes for Ha.

Decades past and Song weathered many changing times: crash of stock market; era of mass-migration and more… While Song remained steadfast, guarding the teahouse, continuing to serve his loyal patrons and providing jobs for his long-serving staff, the fast-thinking Ha now owns a business empire and is back to create chaos.

Facing the challenges of keeping the Teahouse afloat, Song decided to seek extreme measures, which resulted in him meeting an Angel (starring Eric Tsang)... will the Angel provide sound advice that solve Song’s woes? Or will the unity of Song and his loyal patrons and staff be the solution? 

Movie Review:

An annual affair since 2011, this latest entry into the ‘I Love Hong Kong’ Lunar New Year comedy series from director Chung Shu Kai, producer Eric Tsang and the whole stable of TVB stars proves that the third time indeed is the charm. Boasting a much stronger narrative, crisp direction and well-tuned performances, it is by far the most enjoyable ‘I Love Hong Kong’ movie and we dare say a gold standard for ‘he sui pians’.

Often criticised for relying on audience goodwill to get away with convenient laughs, ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ demonstrates that even with keeping with the subgenre’s formula of an all-star ensemble cast and a happily-ever-after-ending, there is still much room for a fully-realised movie to emerge. Such an accomplishment is first and foremost the credit of a quartet of writers (Peter Chik, Kwok Kin Lok, Yan Pak Wing and Chiu Sin Hang), who decide to opt for a less slapstick and a more character-driven approach to the storytelling.

Rather than a smorgasbord of thinly defined characters, there is a clear lead here in Song Chi Hung (Alan Tam), the owner of a traditional Chinese teahouse restaurant called Da Tuan Yuan (which literally means ‘big reunion’). When we first meet him in present day, he is saddled with financial woes, and thus owes both the bank as well as his employees. His family is no help – rather than lending him money to cover his debts, they instead ask him for more and insist that he sell his teahouse business.

But Chi Hung clings onto it for sentimental value, until his old buddy Ha Shek Sum (Nat Chan) tricks him into placing his thumbprint on a contract. Just as he contemplates suicide on the roof of a highrise building, an angel appears in the form of Eric Tsang and engages him to reminisce about the past. And just like its predecessors – though with much more finesse – the movie flashes back to a Hong Kong in the 1970s and 1980s, which surprisingly takes up most of the entire movie.

Recollecting Chi Hung’s past as a lowly-skilled immigrant who gets a job at the teahouse run by Lung Kwat (Stanley Fung) no thanks to Shek Sum’s craftily unorthodox way which gives new meaning to working your meal’s worth, the movie charts the fates of the pair of buddies (played by Bosco Wong and Michael Tse), whose nature could not be more different despite their close friendship. While Chi Hung is honest, down-to-earth and loyal, Shek Sum is egotistical, deceitful and ultimately self-serving. It’s no surprise that their paths will diverge, and turn from friends to foes.

Yet to be sure, that is not because of what could have been their romantic rivalry, as Chi Hung ends up falling for, and falling in love with, the girl whom Shek Sum had a crush on. Yeung Yeung (Kate Tsui) is the daughter of a rich businessman (Benz Hui), who opposes their budding relationship based on the pair’s relative social status. But Yeung Yeung would have none of that, and in what is one of the film’s definite highlights, gets married to Chi Hung in a quirky church wedding sequence complete with an exuberant song and dance set to a popular Sam Hui tune whose title unfortunately escapes us.

The addition of song and dance hitherto not seen in the franchise is an inspired move, with the aforementioned sequence and yet another earlier one that sees Chi Hung attempt to convince Lung Kwat that he has some talent the rest of the employees do not have equally delightful to watch. There are a lot more funny bits in the movie, and one particularly effective running gag is Chi Hung’s learning of the English language, which he does by stringing together totally unrelated but similarly sounding Cantonese phrases.

But more than just the jokes, what also comes through is a nostalgic portrait of a time when life was simpler and people as a whole were more altruistic. While a late twist involving some multi-level marketing scheme might be criticised as mere narrative convenience so Lung Kwat can share the same dilemma in the past as Chi Hung in present day, it does help bring across a strong affirming message about loyalty, mutual support and the importance of family. Not too veiledly, the message is also meant to bear relevance to the current state of Hong Kong’s society, especially in how self-centredness and the accumulation of wealth has displaced good old values of empathy, perseverance and conscientiousness.

Of course, both director Chung and producer Tsang know better than to adopt a didactic tone. Instead, they focus on telling a surprisingly coherent story with well-delineated characters, led by amusing performances by both Bosco Wong and Michael Tse. Contrary to what the billing on the poster might suggest, the two are undoubtedly the stars of the show, with Wong’s unpretentious act as a the pouty-lipped and simple-minded Chi Hung a perfect complement for Tse’s arrogant and brash Shek Sum. The much-touted return to the big screen for Veronica Yip turns out to be no more than an extended cameo at best (though we do get to see her wriggle her hips to a Bollywood dance in a brief sequence), and the same can be said of Alan Tam.

Yet the limited screen time of these stalwarts thankfully do not diminish the film, which cruises on good scripting, confident directing and just as assured acting from TVB’s stars. If you’re looking for a consistently amusing and occasionally uproarious Lunar New Year-themed movie, we can guarantee that you’ll find in ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ the festive cheer you are looking for – complete with a heartwarming message about the ties that bind and the values that matter. 

Movie Rating:

(If you're ‘I Love Hong Kong 2013’ is just the Lunar New Year ‘he sui pian’ to bring on the festive cheer)

Review by Gabriel Chong