MR AND MRS GAMBLER (2012)

Genre: Comedy/ Drama
Director: Wong Jing
Cast: Chapman To, Fiona Sit, Law Kar Ying
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Rating: NC-16 (Scenes of Intimacy and Sexual References)
Released By: Encore Films & Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website:

Opening Day: 23 February 2012

Synopsis: Manfred and Flora are degenerate gamblers who can gamble on anything 24 hours a day seven days a week. Though they have come across each other a few times at the casino, they have not left any lasting impression upon each other.

On that fateful day when both of them lost their jobs and abandoned by their lovers, they went to gamble at the casinos in Macau. Coincidentally, they both suffered heavy losses and were held hostage by the loan sharks. It was then they fell in love with each other. When they finally secure their freedom, they return to Hong Kong and live together.

While they started living together, their luck turns. They keep on winning until Flora is pregnant; they then decide to get married. However, before the wedding banquet is held, both of them cannot shake off their gambling addiction and lose their whole fortune. Their parents have to pay for their wedding finally.

With the birth of their daughter “Lucky”, Manfred and Flora consider quitting their gambling habits, but all their efforts were in vain. Instead they are debt ridden to such an extent they decide to end their lives. They buy a Mark Six ticket with their last ten dollars, and like a miracle, they win the first prize totalling over $100 million. However, they decide to split the money and have a divorce after all.

But who should have their daughter’s custody? After a long fight, they come to an agreement that both should quit gambling for a week and whoever breaks the agreement will lose his/her custody right. Private detectives are hired to watch over both of them. They do not realize how painful it is to quit gambling, even for just seven days. However, on the last day, something unimaginable happens…

Movie Review:

Never underestimate the man- that’s one thing we’ve learnt about veteran director Wong Jing from his movies. Just as you think he’s hit a new nadir in his career with a string of appalling flops ‘Future X-Cops’, ‘Men Suddenly in Love’ and ‘Treasure Hunt’, the (in)famous director of some of most trashy albeit entertaining Hong Kong comedies of the past three decades surprises with a hilarious comedy reminiscent of his best works.

Of course, this latest also marks a return to familiar territory for Wong Jing, built as it is around the theme of gambling. Yes this is the man who created one of Chow Yun-Fat’s iconic screen statuses with the classic ‘God of Gamblers’ series back in the late 1980s, did likewise for Andy Lau with ‘The Conman’ and ‘The Conmen in Vegas’ back in the late 1990s, and most recently made the same indelible imprint on Yuen Wah and Yuen Qiu’s career with his ‘Kung Fu Mahjong’ series. Somehow, despite being a jack of all genres, it is in that of the gambling comedy where Wong Jing has truly been a master.

The first half of the movie chock-full of wacky gags demonstrates just that. In flashback mode, and narrated by its lead star Chapman To, the film introduces the events leading up to the unlikely romance between two pathological gamblers. Manfred- or Shu Qi as his Chinese name goes- (To) and Flora (Fiona Sit) are two halves of that odd couple, whose paths cross one fateful day when Flora and her buddy Vulgarlina (Harriet Yeung) snatch a cab from Manfred under the guise of an emergency. In the process, Manfred loses the money intended for a horse racing bet- while as Murphy’s Law would have it, the very bets he had intended to place turn out to be the winning ones.

Manfred runs into the pair at a Macau casino and proceed to engage in a prolonged battle which leaves either side none the richer. Worse still, they end up owing a bunch of loansharks’ money (led by Hong Kong cinema resident baddie Jin Gang) and their commiseration at each other’s mutual sorry predicament is one of many laugh-out-loud sequences of the movie. Ditto for their subsequent meet the in-laws encounters- Manfred’s father (an utterly delightful Law Kar Ying) a part-time actor and full-time husband to his demential wife (Bonnie Wong) whom he fools into thinking he is Andy Lau; and Flora’s mother (Mimi Zhu) a scheming materialist who demands money from Manfred from day one in exchange for her daughter’s hand in marriage.

Equally offbeat is their marriage ceremony, both husband and wife glued to TV screens and then to their earpieces as they watch and listen intently to the live broadcast of a horse racing competition they had made bets on even while making their marriage vows. In typical Wong Jing fashion, the gags are thrown together in an almost haphazard manner, and so Manfred’s profession as a part-time actor turns out to be an excuse to poke generous fun at a fellow Wong director’s upcoming movie ‘The Grandmasters’.

What place you may ask does it have in the midst of a gambling-themed rom-com? Nothing really, except for the fact that it makes for absolutely uproarious fun. Chapman gets to do his best Tony Leung impersonation, while Matt Chow gets to play Wong Jing Wai (yes, that’s a combination of Wong Jing and Wong Kar-Wai’s name for you) filming Manfred in the appropriately titled ‘The Grandmasters- 2046’ with an indefinite release date. Before any Wong Kar Fai fans cry blasphemy, know that it’s all done in the name of good-natured hearty fun.

Admittedly, the jaunty pace of the first half takes a beating with a melodramatic change in tone following Manfred and Flora’s nuptials. In the movie’s weakest and most illogical plot twist, Manfred becomes an international star with the completion of ‘The Grandmasters- 2012’ and sets his sights on Hollywood as well as his wealthy producer/ financier Michelle (Hu Ran); while Flora gets a job at a casino and becomes the apple of the young boss’ (Philip Ng) eye. Dirt-digging ensues before an impending divorce, and what began as light-hearted suddenly takes a more sombre tone.

Despite the abrupt tonal shift, Wong Jing has his heart in the right place, attempting to show how too much focus on each other’s career and too little time on each other’s marriage can tear a couple apart. Though it probably isn’t too hard to guess how their marital conflicts pan out (has a Wong Jing film ever had anything less than a happy ending?), Wong Jing still manages to inject poignancy through a reiteration of their similarities and their under-appreciated dependency on each other for even the simple things in life. Yes clunky it may be, but there is probably more poignancy here than you’ll find in most of Wong Jing’s other films.

That we remain so engaged throughout is also thanks to the wonderful chemistry between Chapman and Fiona. They may not be the most physically attractive screen couple, but Chapman’s unassuming likeability and Fiona’s infectious spunk will more than win you over. The ensemble supporting cast of veterans (Kar Ying, Mimi Zhu and Bonnie Wong) are just as delightful, so kudos to Wong Jing for getting the casting for this movie spot-on.

What makes this Wong Jing film even more significant is the fact that it is the first true-blue made in Hong Kong comedy in recent memory, relatively undiluted by the sanitisation imposed by cross-strait China productions. Fashioned with the same madcap sensibilities of classic ‘mo lei tau’ comedies, it easily goes down as one of the most enjoyable Wong Jing movies of late and a surefire sign that the filmmaker isn’t quite ready to be written off just yet. If you’re looking for some harmless fun at the movies, you can go no wrong taking a gamble at this delightful gambling rom-com. 

Movie Rating: 

(With plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, this latest from veteran writer/ director Wong Jing offers generous madcap fun and a guaranteed hilarious and entertaining time)

Review by Gabriel Chong