This movie is available for purchase at www.sensasian.com

Rating:

4

Year of release: 1990

Genre: Triad drama

Director: Poon Man-Kit

Producer: Clarence Yip

Writers: Clarence Yip, Hau Chi-Keung

Action director: Blacky Ko

Cinematographer: Chan Ying-Kit

Editor: Chan Kei Gap

Music: Lowell Lo

Stars: Stephen Chow, Max Mok, Ellen Chan, Charine Chan, Ng Man-Tat, Parkman Wong, Henry Fong Ping

Rated II for language and violence

DVD Information

Company: Mega Star

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean

Extras: trailers, cast/crew info, plot synopsis

Notes: Your standard early Mega Star disc gussied up with new packaging and an anamorphic presentation. The subtitles are poorly translated, which makes a lot of the jokes and slang hard to follow.

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Lung Fung Restaurant

Despite the cover art and the starring role of Stephen Chow, Lung Fung Restaurant is not the comedy one might expect. Rather, it is a Triad drama which has Max Mok as a rascal who gets out of jail and begins working at a teahouse. His Triad buddy Stephen looks him up and they sets about their old antics. Later, Max meets up with a pretty club girl (Ellen Chan) and thinks he might be able to change his ways -- but the "brotherhood" won't let him go so easily.

Lung Fung Restaurant's main problem is that this sort of picture has been done dozens of times before, and it adds nothing new into the mix. Experienced viewers will be able to tell all the "twists" a mile away (though the ending is surprisngly upbeat for a movie of this type). Also, in this movie, one can really see why Max Mok was never considered a real leading man. His acting is leaden, and Ellen Chan's stereotypical "jade vase" performance doesn't help matters any. There are a couple of action sequences thrown in to try and liven things up, and Stephen Chow does brighten matters when he's onscreen (even though his role consists of going around and swearing for most of the movie), but ultimately, Lung Fung Restaurant is brought down by its' mediocrity.