''The Fortune Handbook'' () is a 2017

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

Singaporean comedy film directed by Kelvin Sng and starring

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

Li Nanxing Li Nanxing (born Jonathan Lee Nam Heng on 7 November 1964) is a Singaporean actor who has been referred to as "Ah-Ge" (阿哥, "big brother") of Caldecott Hill. He is also a businessman and filmmaker. Li has acted in many Chinese-language te ...

and Mark Lee. It was released in cinemas on January 26, 2017, and is one of two films distributed by mm2 Entertainment during the

period in 2017, the other being '' Take 2''.

Synopsis

Soh Hock (

), a never-do-well, is obsessed with becoming rich and constantly scheming to get the secret recipe to Hao Xing, his brother-in-law's (

) famous traditional Chinese pastry. When a God Of Fortune ( Mark Lee) stumbles into his and his family's lives, things become messy.

Cast

Production

Casting and crew

Sng decided to gather the "Three Lees in Entertainment", Christopher Lee, Mark Lee and Li Nanxing, to star in a film together. According to an interview with Weekender Singapore, Sng said that "it started out as a joke, but all three of them actually agreed to do it". All three were listed as executive producers, together with Jack Neo and Melvin Ang. It was such a success that the actors started talking about their next project together.

Filming

Li, who has always played "solemn and heavy" roles, such as a cop, lawyer or baddie, took on his first comedic role because of his co-stars, saying in an interview with The Straits Times that he "signed on because of the other two." Initially, he felt awkward being cast as Vivian Lai's ex-boyfriend due to the age gap, so Sng altered the role to be her brother instead. Filming started on October 31, 2016 with a production cost of $1.3 million, and lasted for 20 days.

Reception

Critical reception

Boon Chan of

The Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' (also known informally by its abbreviation ''ST'') is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and ...

rated ''The Fortune Handbook'' a 2 out of 5 stars, stating that although important holiday themes such as "prosperity, the importance of family and bak kwa" are present, "the end result is far from savoury" as "(Sng's) characters laugh more than the audience - hearing laughter on the screen is not the same thing as watching a funny film". John Li of MovieXclusive.com rated the film a 2.5 out of 5 stars, citing the "countless mentions of brands or appearances of products" and that "viewers may not find all gags funny and end up wondering why the characters are laughing a lot more than the audiences".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortune Handbook, The 2017 films 2017 comedy films Singaporean comedy films 2010s Mandarin-language films