Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 06/29/2005 In this followup to 1998's The Conman, Andy Lau returns as King, a top gambler who has taken to scamming small-time casinos with his partners Dragon (Nick Cheung) and Nat (Natalis Chan). After one scheme goes wrong, Dragon is captured and held for ransom by Triads, while King and Nat are arrested. King is offered a deal by the cops; if he captures a thief named Peter Chu (Alex Man), the government will give him enough cash to both rescue Dragon and secure his own retirement. With Nat in tow and a couple of cute girls (Kelly Lin and Yuk Fong) by his side, King heads to Las Vegas. The Conman, while nothing outstanding, was another in the long line of solid gambling movies helmed by Wong Jing. The Conmen in Vegas actually deviates a bit from Wong's usual formula, in that the gambling sequences are set on the back burner for the most part, with the emphasis here being on comedy. And it actually works for the most part. While there are no out-and-out gut-busting scenes, most of the jokes presented here work, with the funniest bits coming from Wong himself, who has a small role as a porno director who helps the gang out. Of course, if you're not a fan of Wong's toilet humor or pop-culture/movie parodies, then you're probably not going to get much out of the proceedings. Also, The Conmen in Vegas's attempts at "real" drama fall flat. Even though he is now known as one of Hong Kong's strongest actors, at this point in his career, Andy Lau was coasting on his good looks and star power, rather than actually using acting ability. When he's paired up with the sexy (but wooden) Kelly Lin, the results are less than perfect, to say the least. Thankfully, Wong Jing is smart enough to know his actors' limitations, and doesn't dwell too much on the dramatics. True to his blitzkrieg style, Wong follows any of the slower-paced dramatic bits with fast-moving sequences of action or humor. All in all though, even though there is nothing horribly wrong with The Conmen in Vegas, it doesn't do anything particularly great or with a lot of panache, either. There are a few sequences which have promise to turn this movie into one of the greats of the genre, but it's fairly obvious that Wong Jing had been cranking out far too many of these types of gambling films during this period, and it just feels like his heart was not fully in this effort. Not surprisingly, Wong handed the reigns on the future Conman movies to other directors. Even if The Conmen in Vegas doesn't represent Wong Jing's best work, there are far worse things that you do with your time than to check out this picture. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll enjoy The Conmen in Vegas, but it's most likely not something you're going to remember years down the road. [review from www.hkfilm.net]

Reviewed by: Inner Strength Date: 04/14/2002 Summary: Poor Another Wong Jing gambling mess, probably his worst in the genre. Uninteresting, unoriginal and unwatchable. Rating: 1/5

Reviewed by: Trigger Date: 11/20/2001 I liked it. This one is more like a classic Wong Jing movie - it's silly and there are a few good movie parodies in it... they even parody The Ring and it made me laugh out loud. I would suggest seeing The Ring before watching this film... sorry if that gives away a surprise... Anyway - There are other great moments in this one too that make it a fun time. The story seemed to trail off alot like they were working without a script or something, but they managed to tie everything up in the end. Movies make their own set of rules... rules for characters and rules for plot development and rules for location and gravity or whatever... Like in the Matrix, it created this world and did a pretty good job of sticking to the rules they created. It's not the real world that we live in, but we were able to follow along and know what was going on... had they changed the rules, it would've been too confusing and the movie wouldn't have been as good. In Hong Kong cinema - sometimes they will change the rules of characters or situations. There's nothing really wrong with that except that it makes these films difficult to believe or follow or what have you. With this film - being that it is a sequel, the first film set up some rules for the characters... they didn't really follow these rules however... they did to the extent that they aknowleged the rules existed only to change them so they could make a movie that was more fun to watch. So right from the beginning they throw out all the storyline that had happened in the previous film so they could start fresh. Not a bad way to go considering the result, but fans of the first movie might be disappointed if they were expecting to see certain things resolved. It's not so much a continuation as it is a new film based on the same basic characters. This still has Andy Lau in it (many other faces return as well) and he is just as charming... I like him better now that I've watched these two films. It's still about being a conman, but this one doesn't have any of the serious undertones that the first one did. This time Andy Lau (King) must travel to Las Vegas so he can capture a wanted criminal, retrieve some stolen money and pay off some bad guys who are holding his pal captive. The cons in this film are even more elaborate and probably a bit too much for their own good as the audience might have trouble believing they could possibly work in real life... but that's not what these films are about. This isn't really an updated God of Gamblers so much but it's in the same vein. I'd venture to say that it shares alot in common with Tricky Master. There's plenty of Wong Jing slapstick and movie references in this film and the comedy manages to be quite funny. Near the end it gets too silly for its own good, but overall I'd have to give this one a thumbs up as well and score it a 7/10 cuz I liked it more than the first one. I started watching the third one and it looks like it's gonna be good too... Andy Lau isn't in it though... I'll let you know. Reviewer Score: 7

Reviewed by: GlennS Date: 04/16/2001 Summary: Kelly Lam: This Generation's Chingmy Yau? I know I shouldn't have liked this movie as much as I did, as there wasn't much action, plot or classic laugh-out-loud moments typical of a Wong Jing flick. However there were six things about CONMAN IN VEGAS that make me give it a generic Siskel and Ebert (or is that an Ebert and Roeper) two thumbs up: 1. Andy Lau plays his usual charming self and he has a knack of displaying chemistry with about anybody he co-stars with. 2. Natalis Chan is actually funny for a change, though he still plays his typical 'horny guy who can't get laid' character. 3. Almost no Nick Cheung in this film. Man, this guy sucks. 4. Wong Jing has a hilarious cameo as an x-rated director. As the real director, he keeps the movie flowing and exciting. 5. Li Fei displays some wonderful acrobatics and is hot to boot. Can't wait to see her in some more action movies, as she looks like a woman that can kick anybody's ass. 6. Last but not least, the real reason to watch CONMAN IN VEGAS: Kelly Lam. Where does Wong Jing FIND these babes?!! She's absolutely gorgeous and sexy as hell. Just check out the scene where she practice's on Andy Lau to seduce the bad guy. An absolute scorcher. With some trip-hop playing in the background, she removes Andy's shirt buttons with her teeth, then proceeds to hop on top of him and heat up the screen. Kelly's acting needs more work and her dialogue is dubbed, but her perfomance here was so hot I bought her showcase VCD. Can you tell I'm an instant Kelly Lam fan? (HA! HA!) But seriously, I think she has the potential to be the next Chingmy Yau. Get CONMAN IN VEGAS, especially if you're a guy. 8/10 (Kelly gets a perfect 10) Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: SBates Date: 01/17/2001 Summary: Andy Yuks It Up I was disappointed with this film, but only because of the last third of it; it just rambles on and on. I actually enjoyed the rest of it, though, but this really isn't a gambling movie. Andy and Nat Chan managed to crack me up a couple of times, as did the villain (he does a sleazy rendition of the Ricky Martin "Cup of Life" song, but changes the lyrics to something like "I really love sex!"). The scene with the magic act, featuring an effete Sigfried and Roy type magician and a big tiger, is pretty hilarious.I was also surprised at some of the real low-brow stuff. Wong Jing can't help putting in a dirty, DIRTY joke here and there. So far the first two Conmen movies have been somewhat of a letdown. I hope the third will at least have more gambling!!!! My Humble Rating: 2 stars of 4. Except for the girls...they get four stars. What are their names? they were top-notch.....

Reviewed by: Sydneyguy Date: 06/09/2000 Summary: not good......... OK i am going off what i remember and i remember it was not so good. I guess i was expecting a GAMBLING movie, not a COMEDY. The beginning gives you the impression that it will be a Gambling movie, but NOPE!! So my expections were already wrong. BUt as a comedy, i didn't like it!! I just didn't laugh (well i don't understand chinese so maybe something is lost in the english subtitles). I wish i fast forwards lots of bits because i was just not entertained! They just seem to ramble on to fill in time!! The one good thing about this movie, and YES it is a sexist comment, are the WOMAN!! They are just gorgeous!! Really beautiful, what more can i say!! By the way, don't expect Nicky Cheung to be through the whole movie. He's only there at the beginning and end! Enough from me, at best i can give this: 2 out of 10

Reviewed by: ryan Date: 11/21/1999 Summary: Conmen in Vegas, The (1999) After the opening of 'Gen-X Cops' last week, the showing of summer movie started. WONG Jing seems to be one of the most efficient director in Hong Kong as he produced 'The Conmen in Vegas' after the success for his 'The Conman' (1999) in box office. In addition to the original case Andy LAU Tak-wah and Nick CHEUNG Ka-fai, Nat CHAN Pak-cheung and Alex MAN Chi-leung is also cast to make it more attractive. This time, another selling point is the girls YUK Fong, LAM Hey-lui and LEI Fei. King (Andy LAU) and Dragon (Nick CHEUNG) were a good conmen pair. Together with King's cousin Luckard (Nat CHAN), they cheated money from MAN but being warranted by MAN. Finally, they were caught by the Police but for another mission -- helping the PRC Government to catch conman Peter CHU (Alex MAN) in Las Vegas as well as get back $ 4 billion. At the same time, Dragon is being caught by MAN and ask King to get back the money. King decided to take the offer to Las Vegas. On their way to Las Vegas, they met Care (YUK Fong) and Betty (LAM Hey-lui) and the four guys are on the way to catch Peter CHU. If you seek for some scenes about gambling, I am afraid that 'The Conmen in Vegas' is not the type you expected. When compared with 'The Conman', it seems that their focus are no longer about gambling. This time the movie focus on selling the sex objects YUK Fong and LAM Hey-lui by giving them lots of focus like how Betty induces King. If you look for these two girls, I think you will not be disappointed as they are very sexy. One of the main characteristic of WONG's production since 'The Conman' is playing tricks for ads. This time, you can get it again by playing the tricks of the hit Japanese horror 'The Ring'. The approach in very funny. Audience in the theatres laugh. For the main plot, it seems that lack of gambling makes audience feel a bit unsatisfied. There may be a few, but enough to meet the needs. Alex MAN is okay for the first part but when the whole movie suddenly switches into the desert, the plot seems not enough to make the movie well. WONG has tried his best to put some stuffs in the movie but I think it would be good to make that part shorter. Concerning the ending of the movie, the ending is quite out of our expectation. However, some audience may find it ridiculous. It's really up to the point of view of audience. Andy LAU and Nick CHEUNG seems to be pairs again. They have been in pairs in 'The Conman' (1998) and 'Prince Charming' (1999). This time Nick CHEUNG is not in Vegas but is still the most outstanding actor for the whole movie. For Andy, his performance is okay. Alex MAN played okay but his characters seems to be a bit mono. If more contexts can be put on his another side, it would be better. WONG Jing, like 'The Conman' also plays a role in the movie as film director which makes the movie to be funny. On the whole, 'The Conmen in Vegas' is not a movie like 'The Conman' focusing on gambling, but a movie like a laugher for guys catching a thief. I consider most of us prefer to see how King and Peter CHU being competed in the gambling table, rather than the approach like that. The performance of Nick CHEUNG is continuously outstanding while the sex objects are also fulfilled their function. Whether 'The Conmen in Vegas' is okay or not really depends on what is your expectation. If you expect for a gambling movie, you will be totally disappointed. If you look for a laugher, I think it should be okay.