The Top Bet (1991)
Reviewed by: mrblue on 2007-10-07
Okay, before we start, there should probably be some clarification done about The Top Bet's lineage. It's a sequel to All for the Winner, which itself was a spinoff from the God of Gamblers films. But it has nothing to do with Saint of Gamblers, which is yet another sequel to All for the Winner.

Confused yet? Welcome to the wonderful world of Hong Kong movies. Please fasten your seat belt, leave your tray in the upright position, and get ready for takeoff.

At any rate, The Top Bet picks up where All for the Winner left off. The "Saint of Gamblers" (Stephen Chow) decides to head on a world gambling tour, which leaves his uncle (Ng Man-Tat) in a pickle when a powerful gangster (Jeff Lau) demands that the Saint appear at his tournament.

Luckily, the Saint's sister (Anita Mui) appears looking for him, but refuses to use her special gambling powers for profit. Uncle Ng heads out to look for a replacement and meets the "Queen of Gamblers" (Carol Cheng), whose skills make her look like a savior to him.

Ng convinces the Queen to enter the tournament, but she turns out to be just a glorified card-counter. After some bickering and hijinks, Cheng and Mui try and put aside their differences so that they can defeat the Saint's rival (Paul Chun Pui) and save themselves from getting taken out by the Triads.

Confused yet? Welcome to the wonderful world of Hong Kong movies. Would you like chicken or fish for your in-flight meal?

Actually, the plot's fairly easy to follow. But, like many Cantonese "nonsense comedies", a lot of the jokes don't translate very well to Western viewers. That's not to say someone new to Hong Kong movies won't find anything worth watching.

The cast does a fine job in creating humor that doesn't need wacky punch lines to be funny. But there are still a lot of jokes that are going to go over a lot of people's heads here, such as pop star Kenny Bee totally playing against type as a tongue-tied conflicted robber.

Another sticky point about The Top Bet are the actual gambling scenes. Say what you will about Wong Jing (the producer/director responsible for most of the films of the Gamblers series) but the man can craft some damn fine action when it comes to card playing.

Sadly, that's not the case here. Most of the matches involve people rubbing their hands while cheesy lightning effects sprout up. The film-makers try to liven things up with a couple of action sequences, but the violent wire-fu just feels out of place in what should just be a straight-up comedy.

Overall, though, The Top Bet has enough charm that it manages to overcome its' shortcomings -- at least to an extent. In the grand scale of Hong Kong gambling movies, this is a fairly minor entry, but is still something worth your time and money, especially if you are a fan of the genre.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]
Reviewer Score: 6