Today’s review will cover a 1996 comedic film produced in Hong Kong and called “Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star.” (NOTE: This should not be confused with the 1985 Hong Kong film “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars” featuring Jackie Chan.)
(ADDENDUM TO PREVIOUS NOTE: This should also not be confused with the 1987 Merle Haggard song “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star.”)
(SUPPLEMENT TO ADDENDUM TO PREVIOUS NOTE: Nor should this be confused with the 1983 Hong Kong film “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”)
The point of those notes was to demonstrate there are at least three Hong Kong films with similar names in addition to the song from a famous American country singer. That’s not even taking into account the 2005 Indian film “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Bottom line, searching for this film may be tricky. The correct version with the breast expansion has the following promotional image:
Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Star starred Natalis Chan as the “Windfall God,” Anita Yuen as a masseuse named “Beautiful” who loves to gamble, Christy Chung as the “Angel of Nine Heavens” and the romantic interest for the Windfall God, and Michael Wong as “Saint Michael.” (NOTE: Saint Michael was lent by Jesus to the Jade Emperor as an interpreter.) The action begins in Heaven among the numerous magical beings that serve the Jade Emperor.
The Windfall God was immediately smitten with the Angel of Nine Heavens due to her beauty. However, she was already in a relationship with Saint Michael. In short order, both Saint Michael and the Angel of Nine Heavens are caught in their love affair and exiled to Earth because love is forbidden in Heaven. Still seeking her affection, the Windfall God also travels to Earth to win her love. To do so, he needs her to tell him “I love you” within seven days.
The Windfall God is a patron saint for gamblers. Several women on Earth, including Beautiful, regularly pray to him to win significant financial gains (a.k.a. windfalls) in games like Mahjong. Given that Beautiful is one of his adherents, the Windfall God wants to use her as a mortal guide to find the Angel of Nine Heavens. Of note, while on Earth the Windfall God possessed a mostly undefined power to do just about anything. For instance, he was able to put a man’s butt on his head:
Upon seeing his magical ability, Beautiful asks for a favor. She requests big tits! Alas, there was no on-screen transformation. One moment she was normal, then the camera cut away to focus on the Windfall God. When the camera returned to Beautiful she was already wearing an oversized prosthetic chest under her sweater.
Being on Earth has its drawbacks as the Windfall God can only do three acts of magic per every 24-hour period. Thus, after boosting Beautiful’s figure he was unable to return her to normal until after midnight when the clock would reset and he would be able to perform three more miracles. (SIDE NOTE: Making money out of nothing was forbidden, so his powers were not limitless.)
For those unfamiliar, like me, the following is the aforementioned Pang Dan on the cover of Penthouse magazine’s Hong Kong edition:
On that note, it’s obvious that this was intended for a Chinese audience, specifically Cantonese-speaking people. Thus, there were many references to mythology and to celebrities which may not be known to folks outside of that target audience. For example, a joke was made about a guy, “Lin Moon,” with many wives, which I assume was based on a real person but I had never heard of him. During my research I was unable to find anyone with that name who fit the joke. Additionally, I was a little confused about the existence of the Windfall God and the God of Wealth who seemed very similar, but apparently were actually two different gods. (NOTE: It was also unclear what was the difference between gods and fairies as the Windfall God was referred to as both a god and a fairy on different occasions. Furthermore, it wasn’t clear what characteristics made one individual an angel as opposed to a god or a fairy.) I got the sense that some famous people made cameos in this production, but since I didn’t recognize them the significance was lost. Several scenes also centered around Mahjong so it would help if viewers had some familiarity with the game.
Returning to the story, Beautiful’s first appearance showcases that she’s a masseuse who performs quite a remarkable massage! That includes throwing a customer up in the air in order to kick his back and grabbing his wrists and spinning around the room like a wagon wheel!
Beautiful was supposed to help the Windfall God find the reincarnated Angel of Nine Heavens. However, in an act of extreme convenience, during breakfast the reincarnated Angel of Nine Heavens just happened to walk through the same restaurant where Beautiful and the Windfall God were dining.
Just like in Heaven, Christie and Saint Michael, called Shing Shing in his human persona, were a couple. (SIDE NOTE: I have to say that I appreciated Shing Shing’s superb eye for style, as demonstrated below!)
The Windfall God tries repeatedly to woo Christie, but she never reciprocates. He even performs a song and dance with some police officers:
It was well-established that the Windfall God only had seven days to convince Christie to say “I love you.” However, there was little tension. It did not feel like anyone was keeping track of how much time was left. He does continue to try new ways to win her over, but those efforts felt a little lacking and the deadline did not feel as significant as it should have.
Eventually, a contest to determine the best gambler was held and the Windfall God believed that held the key to success. The contest involved deadly tests such as placing one’s hand in a box containing a venomous snake, drinking wine from a number of glasses while trying to avoid the one that has been poisoned, and answering trivia questions while being suspended over pools filled with piranha. Additionally, the involvement of Triad gangsters complicated matters. It’d be a shame to give away every detail, but suffice to say that at the end what the Windfall God really needed was in front of him the whole time 😉
Overall, I enjoyed this movie. However, I will caution potential viewers that one scene incorporated outdated views on homosexuality and marriage. There’s a copy on YouTube, under the title “運財至叻星(1996)|Twinkle Lucky Star,” but the translations were cumbersome to decipher, like the following:
However, it may be difficult to find a better version. A DVD copy might (just might) have subtitles taken from a better translation. Presumably, hard copies exist somewhere, in Hong Kong probably, but the American and Japanese stores where I buy movies didn’t have any.
That’s it for today, Thursday’s review will cover Jyminish’s “My Shrinking Lover Part 2: A Sexy Decrease.” Until then, keep growing!
This review is protected under Fair Use copyright law.
All Rights Reserved.
There She Grows 