Not bad, but not good either...
Fun is a difficult word to define. For me, All's Well Ends Well just stopped working for me, the moment Stephen Chow decided to disappear. The formula of these films is more of the same, which is quite frankly nothing special. Therefore, what made these films fun, is easily Stephen Chow. With the turn of the century, Mr. Chow is replaced by Louis Koo and ever since, the film series have just went downhill. While Louis Koo is a fine looker and part time tanning specialist, his comic timing relies more on overacting and in this case, acting gay and feminine. While the addition of Donnie Yen adds something to the picture, the film seems to have lost its touches. Perhaps, Raymond Chow should look at a different direction and return to its roots to film something about Hong Kong people and what they actually want.
When the highlight of the movie is the sight of Donnie Yen using Wing Chun to perform a makeup stunt in front of a group of "Se Lai", you probably realise the movie isn't exactly that hot shot. What I personally like about Lunar New Year movies is that the number of stars that we get to see in one single movie. In effect, the movie should be mindless fun and plays like a celebration party. However, this film fails to even do that. Another moment of happiness is seeing the much missed Cecilia Cheung back in action. Cheung is amazing to watch and luckily she has a crying sequence to boot. Stephy Tang also appears, but is wasted in a cameo with no more than 2 sentences. Carina Lau seems to be in her 2046 mode and is more annoying than amusing. Chapman To once again steal the show with a fine supporting comic turn.
All in all, All's Well, Ends Well is meant to be a stargazing affair; however, the film fails to the fun factor and loses out to the fresher Hong Kong style approach in TVB and Shaw Brothers co-production in the likes of I Love Hong Kong and All's Well, Ends Well 2011. Still, it is always fun to stargaze, but apart from that, this film offers very little. Basically, this film is neither good nor bad as it is what I boldly call – passable entertainment...(Neo 2011)
I rate it 5/10
