Clifton Ko

The concept is pretty much set. A bunch of ladies and gentlemen are looking for partners, there's a lot of complaining, fighting and wrong pairings, but in the end the film remains true to its title. This is not something you watch for the great plot, instead Ko puts all his money on the comedy.

The cast is perfect, with comedy veterans like Sandra Kwan, Man-Tat Ng and Raymond Wong doing their usual thing, and actors like Leslie Cheung, Rosamund Kwan and Teresa Mo lending some extra star quality to the film. The result is a zany, corny and hilarious mix of comedy and action that is over before you know it.

Raymond Wong is back in full effect. He landed a teaching job at a new school, and he's planning to get married to his girlfriend. The kids at the school are making his life harder than it needs to be though, to make matters worse his old self is still hanging around and the ghost of an evil warlord is chasing his girlfriend for past-life mistakes.

The film starts out pretty tame, the first half hour offers little more than simple Raymond Wong comedy sketches. The film does pick up steam during the second half. The comedy gets crazier, the pacing is excruciating, and the finale is pretty wild. You probably don't need to see the earlier films to enjoy part IV, but some prior experience with Hong Kong comedy is an absolute must.

The Prince of Kuwait is coming to Hong Kong, and a slick realtor sees his chance to make a deal of a lifetime. The Prince is planning to sell quite a bit of land, but to prove his worth the realtor will have to convince the Prince he has a strong bond with his father. The problem is he hasn't seen his dad in years. He pretends to have cancer in order to convince his dad to move in with him.

The cast is pretty phenomenal, everybody with any kind of presence at the time of shooting seems to have been included. Their roles don't always make sense, sometimes they even get a completely unrelated throwaway scene just to make an appearance, but at least the comedy remains the film's number one priority. Not great in any way, but this was pretty light and amusing Hong Kong comedy fare.

Hung plays a loser who turns to gambling to make it big. He's not very successful though and quickly squanders the little money he has. His grandfather, a deceased master gambler, takes pity on him and returns as a ghost to help his grandson. While things runs smoothly for a while, it doesn't take long before their little scheme is uncovered.

Hong Kong comedy is loud and zany and Ko's films are no exception. The soundtrack is pretty bad and the direction quite sloppy, but the story is goofy enough and there are some decent jokes scattered throughout. The ending is also a bit more action-packed, which suits Hung better. Not a great film, but okay filler.

The ghost is back, now reincarnated into the body of a high school teacher. When he is assigned a new class, he has his work cut out for him. The kids are unruly and their favorite pastime is messing with the teacher. Luckily, he has a couple of tricks up his sleeve that can help him outwit his students.

The film is little more than a constant battle between teacher and students, that said it's not all snide and pestering. Performances are decent, though for a comedy, most actors do lack comic timing. The solid pacing and light atmosphere carry this one through, not bad if you're looking for some HK comedy filler.

Ko focuses on a little town where everyone is living carefree lives. Whatever drama there is, is faced with a shrug and a smile. That changes when a new magistrate joins the town. He is appalled there is nobody to corrupt, so he starts a little plan to mess up the happy lives of the villagers and have them eating out of his hand.

The musical numbers are horrible, the comedy is pretty tame, overacting is the norm and the plot is a jumbled mess. All those things are also part of the charm I guess, still, the film isn't as fast-paced, daft, or silly as many of its peers. Fans of Hong Kong comedy or Clifton Ko should give it a go, I don't think it's a big priority for others.

Kiang Yu-Kou's intellect is apparent even at a very young age, but his arrogance doesn't make him very popular. He spends his time watching Chinese opera and even tries his hand at writing one himself, but his blossoming career is cut short when the Japanese invade Shanghai and the war starts.

The film's a bit oldskool for a '97 Hong Kong project but fails to revive its glory of just half a decade ago. Performances are weak, the cinematography is a little disappointing and overall the project feels rather cheap. Might be better for people who are more acquainted with the subject, though they might be bothered by Ko's inability to fully suppress his comedy background. Not great.

When Benny doesn't come home from school one day, his mom is worried something might have happened to him. Benny' s dad isn't a big help, so his mom turns to two ex boyfriends to help her locate her son. She tells both the guys they are Benny's father, hoping this will convince them to join her quest.

Ko delivers a somewhat kooky comedy that is never quite a fun as its premise suggests. The performances are overstated but not really funny, the crime elements feel out of place, the functional look isn't charming at all and few jokes land. Like most Hong Kong comedies, pacing and runtime are redeeming factors, but Ko made better films than this one.

Bill is a mediocre news reporter who does his very best to support his family. He loves to be the sole provider, but things change when his wife wins the lottery. All of a sudden, she holds all the power. When word gets out that the family is rich, others are looking for ways to capitalize on their luck.

Some of the more random, sketch-like scenes can be pretty fun and I do appreciate the rowdy and chaotic mess in short bursts, but 100 minutes of straight-up noise is just a bit too much. The performances are well over-the-top and there aren't too many explicit jokes, which makes this a pretty mediocre comedy.

Performances aren't up to par. There are some familiar faces here, but most of them fail to land their jokes. The soundtrack is absolutely dreadful and feels like an afterthought, while the film itself looks like something out of the 80s. It all feels very rushed and put together without putting too much thought into it.

It's a little odd because Ko is capable of making good comedies. Without the proper actors, a decent script and the necessary funding though, it seems he can't perform miracles. At least the pacing is decent and the film constantly propels itself forward, but unless you're absolutely starved for a Hong Kong comedy, I can't really recommend this.

For a comedy, way too much attention goes to the plot, which isn't all that interesting to begin with. The story about a country bumpkin who ends up in the big city isn't exactly new, and Mr. Coconut fails to add anything substantial to the many films that came before.

There's a lot of nervous banter, characters being loud and actors overacting, but it never amounts to anything funny. I'm really not surprised these films never made it big outside of Hong Kong. Ko is very hit-and-miss, if you want to make an educated guess before picking one of his films, it's probably best to just check whether you can stand the cast.

A group of young girls run into a ghost on a camping trip. Lucky for them it's a friendly ghost, who decides to help them with their everyday trials and tribulations. That means school dances, exams, bullying and of course, boys. Not really the most inspired plot and Ko tackles it with a straight face, which wasn't the best of ideas.

Performances are poor, the structure is rather fragmented and the wayward drama feels unnecessary. The film is fun for a while (the first 30 minutes or so), after that it becomes dull and repetitive. A somewhat disappointing Ko that needed to be a lot crazier to be actually funny. Quite the dud.