Tricky Brains (1991) User Reviews

Top notch Stephen Chow movie...

[paul_haakonsen · 8/10 · 1 February 2021]

30 years after this movie was released, I finally had a chance to sit down to watch "Tricky Brains" (aka "Jing goo juen ga"). And let me just be the first to say that I had definitely been missing out on something.

This was without a doubt one of the funniest of Stephen Chow movies that I have seen in a long, long time. And given my fascination with the Hong Kong cinema, it was odd, somehow, that this movie had eluded me until now.

The storyline told in "Tricky Brains" was a very enjoyable and funny one, and the cast in the movie definitely helped to spruce up the movie quite a lot. I mean, aside from Stephen Chow, then the movie also boasts talents like Andy Lau, Rosamund Kwan, Chingmy Yau and Man-Tat Ng. So if you are familiar with Hong Kong cinema, then you are in for a treat of a heap of familiar faces putting on very funny performances.

I will say that the laughs were many and frequent throughout the course of "Tricky Brains". And the comedy used throughout the movie is the type of comedy that will have you bursting out laughing loudly. So this was definitely an archetypical Stephen Chow movie in every sense of that meaning.

For a movie that is 30 years old, I will say that "Tricky Brains" definitely still keeps up and is very watchable even after three decades. If you haven't already seen "Tricky Brains", and if you get the chance to do so, do it! This is a movie that I can highly recommend that you sit down to watch.

My rating of the 1991 Hong Kong comedy settles on a well-deserved eight out of ten stars.

Typically wacky

[Leofwine_draca · 8/10 · 26 December 2020]

TRICKY BRAINS is yet another Stephen Chow comedy from his most prolific period. This time around he plays a prankster called in to play a lengthy and laborious trick on businessman Andy Lau by his underhand rival Waise Lee. Much hijinks and bizarre, goofball comedy ensue, with Chow's regular co-stars appearing throughout. Wong Jing writes and directs this one and brings his usual level of wacky inventiveness to the story, and Lau is excellent in the straight man role. Good female support from Chingamy Yau and Rosamund Kwan adds to the fun, too, and there's nary a dull moment throughout. Fun!

Stephen Chow At His Cartoonish Best

[boblipton · 8/10 · 2 November 2022]

Stephen Chow is the Handsome Tricky Master, a fellow who uses cartoonish gags to, for example, drive a man seeking a divorce crazy, so his wife can have him institutionalized. Meanwhile, Rosamund Kwan is a clerk at a big construction firm and dating Andy Lau. He doesn't know she is the daughter of the company's owner, working under a pseudonym to learn the business. However, her best friend Chingmy Yau does, and so does Waise Lee. To sabotage their romance, and to get his hands on Miss Kwan and the fortune, Lee hires Chow. Chow convinces Lau and his father, Jing Wong, that he is Wong's brother. Chow works at sabotaging Lau in the company.

It's all very funny, as Chow does a bunch of crazy stuff throughout. Miss Yau is a fit comedienne to go up against him, Wong is very funny in an evening gown, and Lau is the stalwart innocent. Full of the sort of gags that Western audiences know Chow for , his anything-for-a-gag shtick kept me smiling throughout.

The Tricky Jing Koo

[WilsonLau · 10/10 · 14 May 2001]

This is the funniest chinese movie I've ever seen. It has a lot of stuff in it that you have to be chinese to understand though so I wouldn't recommend it to some of my friends. It was such a good movie that I had to go and buy it. Chow Sing Chi and Lau Tak Wah should do every movie together. They make such a good comedic team. The most memorable part of this movie for me was the suit Jing Koo was wearing at the club. Theres hundreds of great scenes though and I should single out just any one. 10 out of 10. Doesn't get any better than this.

Damned funny

[suavebloke · 12 February 2000]

Stephen Chiau Kit-sing stars in this hilarious Hong Kong comedy. He plays the 'Tricky Master', and is hired to pretend to be Andy Lau's brother. Dance sequences, toilet jokes, a naked suit, groin stabbings and losses of bodily functions abound. Superb.

Not as funny as I remember

[GIB 01 · 4/10 · 6 October 2000]

I remember watching this when I was a lot younger at a party. I remembered it has being very funny; a classic. Now that I've had a chance to see it again on DVD, it is nowhere near as funny or as good as I remember. The film starts out funny enough. The trickster (as we used to call him) fools a guy and sends him out into the middle of a mall sitting on a toilet. It is a very funny opening scene that I have remembered to this day. As the movie progesses however, things get bland and dull. SPOILER ALERT What happens is the films goes from being straight out comedy (which worked) into an attempt at drama. The trickster is sent to fool a man, but eventually starts feeling sorry for him. This drags on and on and on. What happened to the humor of the 1st scene?! Now it's less humor, more relationships. The trickster loses his cool image and turns into a goof. Then in the last scene he takes a metal box and pulls out all these random ridiculous items, such as a boxing glove on a spring. This isn't as funny and doesn't match the style of the opening. Still this is a funny movie. I just guess after all these years without watching it my expectations became too high. Those who are interested in the theme may still want to check it out.