Hap ga foon

Aug 21

Michael Hui stars as Mr Coconut, and its another really funny film from Michael Hui, joined by a good cast including brother Ricky Hui.

Some really funny stuff here, and if you like this check out other Michael Hui comedies, you wont go far wrong, a couple of the other good ones off the top of my head are "The Contract" and "Front Page" as well one of his early ones the very famous "Security Unlimited".

He usually appeared with his brother Ricky and sometimes with other brother Sam as well.

8 coconuts out of 10 and maybe a half one as well.

This is a somewhat funny Hong Kong comedy starring Raymond Wong as Wong Ka-Fan, whose wife Ping (Olivia Cheng) wants to invite her brother Ngan Kwai-Nam (Michael Hui) from Mainland China to visit them in Hong Kong for a while. After Ngan moves in, it becomes too close for comfort in their apartment and Ngan adjusting to life in the city using his unconventional mainland habits ruffles a few feathers in Wong's household.

There are several hits and misses in this film due to the slow plot and few redeeming qualities in the cast, especially Olivia Cheng's character. However, there are some funny slapstick comedy and classic Hong Kong humor that may generate some laugh-out-loud moments, courtesy of Michael Hui and Ricky Hui. The chemistry between Michael Hui and Maria Cordero was also hilarious. There's also a hint of touching family moments as well.

It's not a bad film overall, just a tad slow. It's nice seeing Joey Wang in a starring role as well, in addition to cameo appearances of a host of actors including Tony Leung, Fennie Yuen, Loletta Lee, Elsie Chan and Lowell Lo.

Grade C+

Well, keeping in mind that "Mr. Coconut" (aka "Hap ga foon") is from 1989, then it is a movie that actually still can be watched today. Sure, it is not the best of comedy that the Hong Kong cinema has to offer, but it does have its charms here and there.

The storyline in "Mr. Coconut" was adequate. It offered enough entertainment to be watchable, but it just somehow failed to be outstanding. On that account, I will say that the storyline was mediocre.

The characters in the storyline were interesting, and they were definitely very colorful and nicely detailed. And I will say that they did have a good ensemble of actors and actresses to portray the various roles and characters.

"Mr. Coconut" was somewhat lacking in the comedy department, in order to be a movie that really appealed to me. Sure, there were some funny moments here and there throughout the movie, but it wasn't in a great abundance. So the laughs were sporadic for me. That was a shame, and it dragged the movie down into mediocrity for me.

While I have now watched the 1989 movie "Mr. Coconut" from director Clifton Ko, I doubt that I will ever venture back to watch the movie a second time, as it just didn't have all that much contents to it.

My rating of "Mr. Coconut" is a mediocre five out of ten stars.