Reviewed by: ksbutterbox Date: 03/16/2003 Summary: Not bad ! This is no "All's Well Ends Well" but it has its silly moments. For a New Years Film it is not as funny as the above film or Part 2 even. Yet, it still has a certain charm to it. I was glad to find this and will enjoy it for numerous viewings... With Wu Chien Lien in it, I'd be crazy not to!!

Reviewed by: MrBooth Date: 03/07/2003 Everybody in Rainbow Village is super-nice and super-happy. So much so that they burst into song every few minutes to express their joy. But two bad officials come to the village and seek to corrupt the populace, to turn everybody else bad too. Jesus christ this movie is bad. It's meant to be funny, I think, but it really isn't... the script is about as amusing as foot rot. The direction is horrific, inducing painful to watch performances from a cast that I know can act under better direction. The production feels cheap and thrown together... ... but all this would be bearable, if lamentable - but then there's the music. A musical where the songs are completely bland, repetitive and banal is just unbearable. The same basic melody is used over and over, with lousy singing of trite lyrics by the cast. It sounds totally lazy and quickly becomes highly tiresome. I made it through 30-40 minutes, then fast-forwarded through the rest of the movie to see if anything interesting happened before the end. It didn't. Avoid! Reviewer Score: 2

Reviewed by: danton Date: 02/14/2002 What better way to celebrate the beginning of the new year yesterday than by watching this delightful, frivolous and totally endearing New Year's comedy starring Leslie Cheung and Wu Chien Lien? I've postponed watching the film for a long time, primarily because I wasn't sure how I would like the musical numbers, but I'm glad I finally did. The plot follows the usual formula, i.e. traditional Chinese values are threatened only to be reaffirmed in the end, while an all-star cast frolics around poking fun at themselves and each other. The film is set in a fictitious fairy-tale village where the sun always shines, the sky is always blue and everyone is happy. Enter two brothers, who are corrupt officials newly appointed to this place. They quickly realize that in a place like this, they will be bored to death (no gambling, no brothels, no drugs) and will have to forego their usual means of income (fees, bribes, etc.). So they decide to corrupt the villagers by all means possible, and for a while it looks like they may succeed. Meanwhile, all of this is backdrop for the central focus of the movie, pairing of as many of the stars as possible in romantic couples, and then starting a comedy of errors that will cast doubt on whether love will win out. Of course it does, and in the end we have the ensemble cast lining up for the traditional New Year's greeting to the audience. The period setting combined with well-integrated musical numbers using traditional Chinese instruments (although some of the melodies are a little more modern - prime example being the repeated use of the melody for Jingle Bells) create a lovely, charming atmosphere that gives the stars free reign. They all shine, in particular Wu Chien Lien and Amanda Lee, and the outtakes at the end are ample demonstration how much fun they had making the movie. Strong recommendation.

Reviewed by: ElectraWoman Date: 01/21/2001 Summary: 7/10-Entertaining Fluff I wouldn't go as far to call this film a classic, but this is a very watchable film. I think what annoyed me slightly was some of the corny jokes, but hey, this is a New Years film, this can be forgiven. I liked how they parodied Cantonese Opera films, breaking into song whenever something important is about to happen. Probably one of the funniest parts is when the woman who plays Madame (arrgh what's her name again?) parodies her own song. Also, it was nice to see Kenny Bee in a film again. Overall-probably a little outdated (these sorts of musical parodies had past their prime by 98) but this is great for a laugh. And stay tuned for the out-takes in the end, they're very funny.

Reviewed by: grimes Date: 04/08/2000 Whoever came up with this idea is a genius, pure and simple. A Hong Kong movie musical! This is just about the coolest thing ever, as far as I am concerned. While Ninth Happiness is about as far from deep as it could possibly be, it is beyond reproach for its sheer entertainment value. The plot concerns the three Ma Lun brothers, who have come to the ultra-nice town of Choi Yuen, the older two brothers intent on stirring up trouble. These two are the town's new officials (positions unspecified) and they are determined to turn the town into a den of iniquity, complete with gambling dens and prostitution. Meanwhile, the youngest brother (Leslie Cheung) falls in love at first sight (there is no other kind in musicals) with Chi-Wan. Gau Gau, a servant of the town's resident wise rich woman (Mrs. Minister), falls in love with the oldest brother (Raymond Wong) because there was a prophecy that she would fall in love with a bearded man. And then there is Heung (who eats constantly throughout the entire film) and Kenny Bee, another couple. In standard musical comedy form, there is of course a comedy of errors when Chi-Wan and Kenny Bee see Heung and Leslie Cheung together (Heung is helping Leslie win Chi-Wan's heart) and they assume that they are having an affair. This makes for some good comedic moments and one particularly hilarious musical number with Kenny Bee and Wu Chien-Lien, which more or less mocks a similar number from earlier in the film. One of the best things about this film is its knowing use of musical cliches. For example, there is a fantastic scene where a dance number breaks out in the middle of the town square, which is a an homage to an older style of film, and also a brilliantly comic moment, because the other characters in the film react to this exactly as they should, with shock at the fact that people would do this for no reason. There are also numerous references to the fact that the characters are singing, and this oddity is noted at least once or twice. In addition, there is also a great deal of non-specifically silly humor throughout. The actors in the film do quite a good job with this, and I particularly liked Wu Chien Lin's extremely silly portrayal of a typical romantic lead in a musical. It's a silly role and she knows it. Leslie Cheung was obviously born to be in this kind of film and so his performance comes as no surprise. What was surprising was how well Gigi Lai fit the role of the sidekick. Her shallow cuteness is perfect in this type of film. Amanda Lee is also good, and she has one of the best numbers in the film, wherein she exerts her power over Raymond Wong. The music mostly consists of more or less traditional sounding opera- and folk song-lite. None of the songs are particularly catchy and there is only once even vaguely large set piece musical number, which is the one thing the film really lacks. Some of the songs are quite funny, however, particularly when they combine folk song sounds and modern rhythms. I'm not sure if this effect was intentional or not, but I was too busy cracking up to really ponder it anyway. It's about as frivolous an entertainment as I can imagine, but Ninth Happiness is a classic. Unfortunately, it's box office take was apparently poor, so I don't know if there will be any future Hong Kong musicals. I can only hope.