Lucky Grandma

Grandma lives in china town, her husband has just died. So she takes a bus to the casino and loses all her money. When an opportunity comes along, she robs a gangster. But now they are coming after grandma, and the money. So she hires her own thug for protection! Now they have taken a family member . Neither side is giving up! Grandma must come up with a plan to get her grandson back and keep the money. Can it be done?? It's all done a little tongue in cheek. A couple gun fights. But grandma won't give in! Good drama with some very subtle comedy, where we root for the under-dog. It's pretty good! Even won a bunch of film fest awards! Directed by sasie sealy.

Easily one of the most uneven films of the year. The first half is a quite funny black comedy but in the second half it just kind of drops that and becomes a far more straight crime drama. The joke is I guess there's this grumpy old lady at the centre of it but that in and of itself isn't that funny. It actually becomes a bit sad and not in a good emotional way, sad in a 'I don't want to see gangsters attempt to strangle and shoot an old lady' kind of way. But at the same time she's not a particularly good person or sympathetic character so I don't really care that much either. What a strange experience this film is.

An unhappy grandma from Chinatown in NYC, tries her luck at the casino and ends up mixed up with gangsters. Definitely an original story and what I enjoyed the most was that I could not predict what would happen next. The acting was superb, especially from the main character, Tsai Chin. And how often do we get to see a grizzled old lady carry a film! Sit back and enjoy it for the fun it is.

Found this movie via Alamo's OnDemand site - Lucky Grandma has something for everyone: Light humor, mob intrigue, a lovingly shot Chinatown, and a stand-out score that yanked me in with the first blast of the brass choir.

I don't think there are enough stories featuring the 70+ crowd out there; Tsai Chin paints a very human picture of entitlement (damn the consequences) after a life of hard work. Who doesn't deserve a sack of cash for making it that far?

This was a pleasant film. Nothing taxing but some fun performances to watch. Probably not as heartwarming as it could have been but also not edgy at all. It was straight down the middle.