“72 Tenants of Prosperity” – My Thoughts

I just recently watched this movie – yes, a little late, but I didn’t want to watch it illegally on the web, so I decided to wait until it came out on DVD so I could go buy it instead….and considering that it stars my idol Jacky Cheung, of course I was anxious to watch it!

The interesting thing about this movie is its definite “Hong Kong flavor.” Airing in HK during the Lunar New Year holiday, the timeslot is definitely fitting – the comedic, upbeat, 喜喜洋洋 atmosphere of the movie endears it to audiences during a happy time when everyone is celebrating the holiday with their families.

Not only does it boast a cast of well-known actors and actresses, it is also filled with TONS of “inside jokes” and Hong Kong cultural references – so much so that I honestly don’t feel that anyone who isn’t already familiar with Hong Kong culture would be able to truly “appreciate” the movie. This is where I feel that the “cleverness” of the movie comes in – it is actually able to cover a lot of ground in terms of cultural and current event references in a short amount of time. Not to mention the 100 plus current and former TVB artists who appear in the movie – albeit mostly in bit parts and cameos -- but it was really fun to play “spot the star” though…

I feel that there were 2 primary purposes of this movie. One was to make audiences laugh – and it certainly achieves this goal! True, some of the content was not necessarily in good taste and it could be said that at times, it could be characterized as borderline ‘crude’ (especially with the curse words, indirect sexual references, etc.) – hence the IIB rating….but overall, the movie was truly very funny. This is one of those movies that I would watch for its light comedic humor, just to get a “good laugh” – not expecting anything else out of it.

The second was to bring forth the "spirit of Hong Kong" theme that is appropriate and fitting during the CNY holiday. This is probably why I get that "feel good" reaction after watching it -- because even though some parts were a little 'cheesy' (which to be honest, I think they made it that way on purpose), I couldn't help but laugh and be in a cheerful mood afterwards.

So yes, I feel the movie does it's "job" so to speak...

Some of my favorite parts from the movie:

>> The “Try Your Best” scene between Jacky (Shek Kin) and Eric (Ha Gong): I just thought it was hilarious that Jacky kept trying to tell Eric that his English is bad, so Eric tries to prove him wrong, but he ends up saying “Try Your Best” wrong anyway (and making it sound like he said it correctly)….I laughed so hard at that scene!

>> The scene where Jacky sings a few lines from his classic “Love is Eternal” song: well, first of all, I of course loved this scene because I get to hear Jacky sing (yay!!!!). The other reason why I liked it was because of the irony – after Shek Kin (Jacky) sings a few lines, his ‘son’ Kin Jai (Wong Cho Lam) says: “Quit imitating Jacky – you don’t even sound like him....Jacky actually sounds like this….” then Kin Jai launches into an imitation of ‘the real Jacky Cheung.’ Afterwards, Shek Kin says: “Wow, that does sound like him.” The irony of the entire scene (Cho Lam supposed sounds more like Jacky than Jacky does) totally cracked me up.

>> The Bosco / Myolie scene at the end (after the credits): I’m not going to attempt to describe it because I wouldn’t be able to do justice to it, but it was funny how Bosco kept insisting she is Myolie and in the end we find out it is her….the way it plays out is funny….and this is another little “tidbit” that only those who are familiar with Hong Kong entertainment would know about…

>> The scene where Jacky’s Shek Kin and Anita’s Siu Tao bump into each other at the café: both try to make themselves look “pretty” (Anita “touches up” her makeup and Jacky “fixes” his hair), but they end up making themselves look horrible because they end up using whatever is on the table. Then, when they look at each other, the reaction is like “Wah!”.

>> Shanghai Lady scene: I really liked this particular scene from the beginning of the movie. Joyce really did a great job of imitating her mother as “Shanghai Por” – not only the facial expressions and the actions, but also the overall “feeling”. It got me laughing from the start and definitely set the comedic tone for the entire movie. Her mother would be very proud!

There were other funny scenes as well, but these ones really stood out for me. I recommend this movie, but like I said before, my suggestion is to watch it purely for laughs -- don't think too much into it, and you will enjoy it as much as I did.