I can recommend this film just by telling you that Andy Lau, Chingmy Yau and Sandra Ng are in it. These are early roles for them, and I like all three as actors. That being said, this is a typical wacky comedy about an actor/extra who lives in New York (Andy Lau as Kwai) who is told by his uncle that his father has died and left him half interest in a funeral services company, which is a big business. Kwai travels to Hong Kong. His brother is already running things and in order to get Kwai out of the business uses three marginal workers to pose as his friends and cause Kwai to appear inept at business. A bunch of really silly things happen, but this is a slapstick comedy, so they are supposed to happen. There are a few jokes that are very un pc (one in which a practical joke is played on one of the group that he has AIDS. That wasn't funny even then), but there is enough happening in this film that you can just enjoy it. You are seeing actors like Lau, Yau and Ng before they found their true acting voices (Sandra, though it is a smallish role, is delightfully wacky) and so its fun. It even spawned a sequel. So, check it out. Oh, one last note: If you get the DVD like I did, don't read the back unless you want a real spoiler alert. It pretty much tells you how the film ends. Just put it on and enjoy.
Review of The Crazy Companies
