The Conmen in Vegas (1999)
Reviewed by: ryan on 1999-11-21
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.