I LOVE HONG KONG 2013 (我爱香港2013恭喜发财) DVD (2013)

SYNOPSIS: Hong Kong of the 1970s - a place bustling with opportunities and riches! The earnest Song (starring Bosco Wong) befriended the crafty Ha (starring Michael Tse), who introduced Song to a job at a Chinese Teahouse. Fate has it that both Song and Ha fell for May (starring Kate Tsui), who is from a rich family and that Yuen (starring Joyce Cheng), May’s best friend had a huge crush on Ha. Decades passed and Song is now the owner of the Teahouse. All is well until Ha returns to create havoc. Facing the challenges of keeping the Teahouse afloat, Song decided to seek extreme measures, which resulted in him meeting an Angel (starring Eric Tsang)... will the Angel provide sound advice that solve Song’s woes? Or will the unity of Song and his loyal patrons and staff be the solution? 

MOVIE REVIEW:

Eric Tsang is Raymond Wong’s closest rival when it comes to Lunar New Year productions. While the latter has been riding on his “All’s Well End’s Well” series, Tsang has been roping in TVB, Shaw and his celebrity friends to anchor his annual festive comedy.

“I Love HK 2013” continues Tsang’s taste for local, by that I mean it’s really a Hong Kong movie. The topic is local, the stars are mostly local and the entire movie shot locally as well. This time round, Tsang roped in his best friend, evergreen pop singer Alan Tam to play a goody-two-shoe, Sung Chi Hung who works in a teahouse with his best friend, Ha Shek Lam (Michael Tse). But their friendship is broken when Sung falls in love with a rich girl, Yeung (Kate Tsui) whom Ha has been admiring all along. Fast forward to present time, Ha is back for revenge and he tries to gain control of Sung’s teahouse while the family of Sung wants him to sell away his teahouse and migrate to Canada. Torn by all the hard decisions, will Sung manage to end his life or saved by an afro-looking angel (Tsang)?

You see, a strong plotline is not really the case here. It’s a New Year tradition to watch a heartwarming family drama with lots of stars thrown in for good measure that makes it more important. This is not to say the end result of “I Love HK 2013” is appalling however. In fact, Tsang and his team of scriptwriters managed to revoke a sense of nostalgia once again with the frequent flashbacks to the good old days beginning with Joyce Cheng gamely portraying a character that resemblances her late mother, Lydia Sum, musical performances including a cover of The Wynners’ LOVE and the return of sex bomb Veronica Yip for a cameo as the wife of Sung. Unfortunately, there are two fellatio gags that seem entirely inappropriate for a family comedy, director Chung Shu Kai should put a stop to it.  

Even though Tam and Yip are prominently billed it’s rising TVB stars Bosco Wong and Kate Tsui (they play the younger Sung couple) who took up much of the screentime in this 97 minutes movie. Series regular Stanley Fung is back as the kindhearted boss of the teahouse and despite that “I Love HK 2013” appears less star-studded than its predecessors, it’s still an eye feast for longtime TVB fans.  

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Just a Trailer and Photo Gallery.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Colour reproduction and clarity is excellent and viewers have the option to choose between a 5.1 and 2.0 Mandarin/Cantonese soundtrack.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee