Reviewed by: JohnR Date: 05/08/2006 Summary: Excellent Suspense Movie - Besides the Points A good suspense movie that could have been great. The good stuff first. Simon Yam performs very well; he's subdued and believable in his role as the irate, nice-guy cuckold. Irene Wan is beautiful and also performs well, playing the part of the wife of the guy who cheats on her with SY's wife. The plot is intricate and has enough twists to keep you satisfied. Well written and directed. The negative part is that Herman Yau throws in some T&A throughout, pretty much gratuitously. It's as if the film were being funded by some Triad bigshot who wants to guarantee a return on his investment and thinks the only way to get people into the cinema is to toss in some sex. (Where do people come up with these ideas!) It's too bad, because it spoils it. Not that I'm complaining too much, as comely Irene reveals two points and takes part in a love-making session with Simon Yam. The actress who plays SY's girlfriend seems to have been selected only for her willingness to expose herself, from when she drops in at the beginning of the movie and displays points to when she flashes front in a flashback at the end. In fact, I was surprised this had only been rated II-B. If the yellow material had furthered the plot it would be different, but it really only seems to have been stuck in as an after filming had finished. Beyond that, one other negative to me was Dayo Wong as a Colombo-wannabe. He overdid the dumbness, but did catch his balance and ended well. The good news is that isn't nearly enough to sink this movie. It's just that if they'd have left out the T&A, All Of a Sudden might be considered a classic suspense movie. But it's still very good and I defintely recommend it.

Reviewed by: j.crawford Date: 01/24/2006 Director Herman Yau mixes the murder and mayhem plotted out in the pages of the clever, well written script with enough sex and violence to keep fan's of his twisted body of work happy. Simon Yam plays a grieving husband who develops a relationship with Irene Wan, who has an unfaithful husband. Their strange love affair blossoms through a suicide, an attempted murder, and a kidnapping; that's just the first act of the film! Believe me, it gets more bizarre from there. While Ms. Wan generously displays her finer points, the real star of this film is Dayo Wong. His quirky performance as the offbeat, off center, slightly kooky police detective investigating all these crimes is wonderful. Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue Date: 09/25/2004 For a movie directed by Herman Yau (who helmed the gore classic The Untold Story) and starring Cat III veteran Simon Yam, All of the Sudden is a fairly dull movie. It's not a horrible film, but considering the talent involved and the salacious cover artwork, I was expecting boobs and blood, rather than a suspense/drama. Maybe those expectations ruined the movie for me, but frankly, All of the Sudden is so by-the-book, one wonders if even die-hard fans of this kind of stuff would find it entertaining. The film begins with a naked woman crashing onto the roof of a car -- pretty good so far. The focus then switches to married couple Alfred Cheung and Irene Wan. As they are leaving their house, they are attacked by a masked man, and Irene and her baby are kidnapped. The kidnapper is none other than our boy Simon Yam. It turns out his wife is the lady who took a header because Alfred was having an affair with her. Since Simon is such a nice guy (he even takes the sick baby to a hospital and protects Irene from his perverted partner -- awww, how sweet) Irene decides to team up with him to get revenge. However, as time goes on, all three people grow suspicious of each other, leading to a bloody confrontation. This kind of stuff might normally be the fodder for a good Cat III flick. Unfortunately, though, All of the Sudden is Cat IIB, and that seems to inhibit things a bit. There's some sweaty naked bodies and spurting claret, but not nearly enough of each. Frankly, most Category III flicks aren't known for their great stories or acting, and when watered-down pseudo-expoitation stuff like this tries to capture that audience, it fails nine times out of ten -- and All of the Sudden is another sad example. If the film-makers had a little bigger balls, this might have been a really good movie. There are times when All of the Sudden threatens to show some signs of brilliance (such as a joting scene where a small baby is hit by a car) but for the most part, the film just feels like it's on auto-pilot. Die-hard Simon Yam fans might want to check this one out, but most viewers are probably better off going with some of his better efforts in the exploitation genre like Naked Killer or Dr. Lamb. (review from www.hkfilm.net)

Reviewed by: Crazybee Date: 06/11/2001 Summary: Typical thriller spiced up with a few twists A typically average thriller though it doesn't fail to engage the viewer. There is a suprising amount of nudity in this category IIB flick as well as a raunchy sex scene. This film received alot of attention on it's initial theatrical release for the exposure of actress Irene Wan's body who was a semi popular TVB/Movie starlet. Dayo Wong supplys comic relief as a detective.

Reviewed by: hkcinema Date: 12/08/1999 One day, young merchant Lam Kwok Choi is attacked by a maskedrobbers, who kidnaps his wife Miu Ho Yi and their son Wai Wai during the escape. The robber is named Tsui Jin Peng, because his wife had an affair with Choi. He wanted to beat Choi to relieve his anger, as he hid Yi and Wai on a yacht. Yacht owner Bill discovers Peng's secret of kidnapping Yi and Wai, blackmails Peng into asking Choi for ransome. On the other hand, the police sent Inspector Mak to handle the case...... [Reviewed by Next Magazine]