Table for Six serves up unexpected substance as well as plenty of laughs (Film review)

The Mid-Autumn Festival edition of the 

Hong Kong poster for this very Hong Kong movie!

 

Table for Six (Hong Kong, 2022)

- Sunny Chan, director and scriptwriter

- Starring: Dayo Wong, Stephy Tang, Louis Cheung, Ivana Wong, Lin Min Chen, Peter Chan Charm-man

 

Like Chilli Laugh Story, this movie from Men on the Dragon helmer-scriptwriter Sunny Chan was meant to appear in Hong Kong cinemas over the lunar new year period.  But thanks to pandemic restrictions being tightened in the wake of the arrival of Hong Kong's fifth Covid wave including cinema closures for a time, its theatrical release was delayed and rescheduled to coincide with the Mid-Autumn Festival.  

 

Its focus on family ties works too for this other Chinese festival but it's clear enough that Table for Six is really a prime example of that unique Hong Kong movie genre that is the Chinese New Year comedy though.  For one thing, it has comic scenes and lines a plenty.  For another, its cast includes a proven comic actress supreme in Ivana Wong and, in Dayo Wong (no relation), former box office poison turned Chinese New Year Comedy king (with Agent Mr Chan (2018) and again with The Grand Grand Master (2020)).  

 

And while I don't automatically associate the likes of Stephy Tang (a former girl band member who's showed she's a bona fide actress in such as The Empty Hands) and Louis Cheung (who I saw most recently in Macau drama Madalena) with laugh-a-minute movies, they -- along with their fellow cast members -- acquit themselves well enough in this comedy whose funny lines come so quickly that this (re)viewer has to admit to having felt overwhelmed at times by their doing so!  Put another way: one of Table for Six's chief strengths is its winning cast; one of its weaknesses is its pacing -- for I really do think that the film would have benefited from allowing its audience and story more room to breathe; this not least since this is a movie that actually has substance, not just (cheap) laughs.

A movie centering around three brothers -- or, half brothers, as we come to find out -- who live together in a spacious apartment they inherited from their parents, Table for Six also gives generous attention to the main women in their lives.  Dayo Wong plays Steve, the oldest brother and the former flame of Monica (essayed by Stephy Tang), who spends most of the film as the girlfriend of Bernard (played by Louis Cheung), the middle brother.  The situation I described could be ripe for drama as well as comedy -- and it turns out to be both; with Steve comically trying to deny that he still holds a torch for Monica, including by dating the noticeably younger as well as sexy "web idol" Meow (Lin Min Chen), but all manner of romantic tensions and complications ensuing after Monica takes up his suggestion that she move with the brothers!

 

Throw into the mix that Josephine (portrayed by by Ivana Wong), the on-again-off-again girlfriend of youngest brother Lung (played Peter Chan Charm-man) has also newly moved into the apartment and you can imagine the dramas that can arise from these living arrangements; this particularly since it's a tradition of sorts that the brothers eat dinner at home together.  By the way, while Meow doesn't formally move in too, she does also spend a lot of time at the apartment and -- yes, takes to regularly having dinner with the quintet.  And, in fact, she it is who turns out to be most appreciative of the cooking that has been delegated to Josephine, whose culinary abilities Meow reckons could make her a successful cooking show hostess!

 

Along the way, Table for Six throws in revelations and meditations on subjects as divese as colour blindness, mid-life crises, the passion for conserving local cultural heritage and the social value of cheap barbecue pork.  And just when you don't expect it, it also delivers a message about where one most is at home that not only takes the breath away but really hits home for Hong Kongers at a time when so many have felt obliged to leave it.   

 

In sum: Table for Six attempts to juggle a lot of plates and there are times when it can seem that its makers had taken on far more than they could chew.  Still, I do admire their ambition and respect their intentions.  And, actually, for the most part, they succeeded in serving up far more thoughtful as well as entertainment fare than might be expected; consequently, they left this (re)viewer with quite a bit of food for thought and feeling pretty satisfied! :)  

 

My rating for this film: 7.5