HELLO BABIES (六福喜事) DVD (2014)

SYNOPSIS: Written and directed by Vincent Kok, Hello Babies will tell how members of the older generation, eager for the arrival of a grandson on whom to dote, find ways to urge the younger generation to bear children. Lei Ming (Raymond Wong Pak Ming), a Malaysian businessman, is disappointed to discover that his sworn enemy, Yang Awei (Eric Tsang), is expecting a grandson. As a result, Lei Ming pushes his grand-nephew to carry on the family line, threatening to cut off his living funds if there is no progress. He even hires a “superstar midwife” (Sandra Ng) to supervise the couple’s love life.

MOVIE REVIEW:

With the exception of Ip Man, famed filmmaker Raymond Wong hasn’t produced a decent memorable production in the last decade. Once again rodeoing his way into the Lunar New Year circuit is Hello Babies, another run out of the mill festive offering from Wong’s now frequent go-to-man Vincent Kok (Hotel Deluxe, Love Is Pyjamas).

It’s the Chinese belief that every family needs a son to carry on the family line. Uncle Lui Ming (Raymond Wong) is a rich tycoon/Datuk who has a married brat of a nephew Scallop (Ronald Cheng) and his wife Cher (Fiona Sit) that are feeding on his wealth. Desperate to have a grandchild, Ming hired a superstar midwife Gong San (Sandra Ng) to assist in the couple’s childbearing or faced their allowances being cut off. The problem is Mr and Mrs Scallop has no wish to have any babies because they themselves behaved liked two rambunctious kids.

A total of four writers are credited for this mediocre flick including Kok himself. To work out the Math, each of them probably contributed less than 25 minutes of material. As usual, there are plenty of misses than hits for example a yoga workout scene seems it’s ripped off from the 2009 comedy Couples Retreat and Uncle Lui Ming’s supposedly suffering from Alzheimer hardly raises a chuckle except watching Wong in drag. Though I must add, there’s one scene that parodies The Grandmaster which I termed as pretty well done.

It’s no surprise Wong’s Hello Babies offer a generous amount of stars as per tradition. This time round he even roped in his old rival Eric Tsang for a role. Fresh face includes singer George Lam’s son Alex and the usual culprits, Ronald, Fiona, Karena Ng and Lynn Xiong. Hey even Jan Lamb, Miriam Yeung, Raymond Lam (Karena’s beau) and Louis Koo dropped by for some entertainment to fill up the 90 minutes flick.

Hello Babies is yet another stale offering that unabashedly appears to net some angpow money before you spent it on the next Hollywood blockbuster. Just remember whenever there is a Lunar New Year, they will always be Raymond Wong. 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Audio is presented with the option of the original Cantonese and Mandarin tracks. Visual is brimming with clarity. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee