“Success” Hung (Sammo Hung) is a top mobile phone salesman, hampered by new recruit Cheng (Carol “Do Do” Cheng). One day, Hung witnesses a gangland murder, though his police officer wife does not believe him. After another run-in with the killers, Hung goes on the run with his psychiatrist (Godenzi), his straying wife and her cop partner.

SLICKERS VS KILLERS is typical of the era, with Sammo’s character a Yuppie salesman. We have the usual blend of gags and action scenes, but the focus is on comedy and in particular the mo lei tau brand of comedy that was just becoming mega-popular at the time thanks to Stephen Chow Sing-Chi. The supporting cast is fairly decent thanks to Carol Cheng’s presence and a cameo by Richard Ng. Jacky Cheung, however, hams it up beyond the ridiculous with his portrayal of a disturbed killer on the back of BULLET IN THE HEAD’s success. In one scene he delivers a soliloquy that appears to be an attempt at grabbing a Golden Horse award and it’s so out of place in this screwball comedy that you start to wonder if his character was written in from another screenplay. Lam Ching-Ying is also on hand, not as a Taoist priest this time, but as Jacky Cheung’s fellow killer. Rounding off the cast is Sammo’s mistress and soon-to-be wife Joyce Godenzi as the protagonist’s psychiatrist.

After PEDICAB DRIVER, Sammo seemed to have had a crisis of taste, and I’d been warned a couple of times that SLICKERS VS KILLERS contained more dubious material, in particular some dodgy comedy about rape. Well, when the scene in question started (it’s convoluted, but in a nutshell Carol Cheng’s character thinks she’s been raped by Sammo) I have to admit I thought it was quite funny and reminded me of a similar scene in a Norman Wisdom film, believe it or not. However, when the characters go to the local police station so that Cheng can report the “crime”, things start to get a bit cringeworthy. I would like to think that even in Hong Kong in the early 90’s, a woman reporting a rape could do so in a private room where officers of both sexes couldn’t lean over to hear the lurid details and the accused doesn’t sit on a chair right in front of her. Christ. Anyway, this scene aside, the usual rules of Hong Kong comedy are in force: some of it is funny, some of it isn’t and some of it just doesn’t translate at all.

The action scenes are pared down somewhat in this film to make way for the comedy. What’s here is pretty decent, but don’t expect another PEDICAB DRIVER. I think the film could have done with a bit more Carol Cheng, and less of the fruitless relationship Sammo has with his insipid cop wife and her obvious lover-in-waiting. There is a little tension in the final scenes of the film though, when the gang are hiding out in a deserted municipal building, but I must admit I got a bit lost at the end when even those on the same side started duffing each other up. Having waited so long to see the film (it's virtually impossible to get hold of these days, and laser disc copies of the film sell for big bucks on eBay), it’s obviously never going to live up to the expectations one can’t help putting on it. But I thought SLICKERS VS KILLERS was reasonably entertaining; not as good as his late 80’s output, but certainly better than some other films he put out at this time. I’d say it’s probably about on a par with OWL VS DUMBO.