All In Review: M’sian Poker Comedy, Starring Rapper Namewee, Is A Mixed Bag Of Jokes

All In (PG13)

Starring Jack Lim, Namewee, Philip Keung, Wang Lei, Yumi Wong

Directed by Matt Lai

All In goes all out on its triple-nationality cast from Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore. The result is a mixed bag of personalities and styles with its parts better than its sum.

This Malaysian gambling switcheroo-comedy directed by Matt Lai (What! The Heist) is about a human lie-detector super power that's transferred from one dude to another. It goes down less satisfyingly than a straight flush. But hey, at least everybody comes together to wish us Gong Xi Fa Cai right at the end.

Malaysian actor-DJ Jack Lim plays Cheng Kah Lung, a pro gambler with an unbeatable secret for poker. He can tell whether a person is bluffing via a red (lie) or blue light (truth) hovering over his head.

Cheng is about to sweep all at a major Texas Hold 'em poker tournament. However, after a nutty accident at a pedestrian crossing, the power jumps from him to a simple-minded restaurant worker named Ong Sio Qi (Malaysian rapper Namewee) who hugs Cheng tightly to save him while being hit by a car. FYI, this “gay attraction” joke is a running gag here that's homophobic overkill.

Knowing all about pok-kai (being broke) but zilch about poker, slacker Ong suddenly finds himself saddled with an ability he doesn't want. But it gets him somewhere with Mimi (Yumi Wong), a bimbo influencer cum serious nurse.

At the restaurant, Ong engages in comic routines with his dad (Singapore getai guy Wang Lei) who keeps scolding him for being an easily duped idiot. Superpower-less Cheng of course wants the accidental hero to take his place to face down a fearsome nemesis, Wei Yi Fu (Hong Kong actor Philip Keung), in the prestigious Asia Poker Tournament.

Basically we get Keung, Malaysian cinema's go-to HK-er, playing an oily Cantonese-speaking God of Gamblers in a swanky casino which seems Genting Highland-passé.

While Namewee and Wang ham it up as pop and son despite looking not even test tube-related with their scenes resembling skits. The former faxes in his trademark goofiness — why is Namewee often in some kind of contest like those cooking competitions in his Nasi Lemak flicks? The latter tones down his outer vulgarian but still limpehs through as a dad.

That's a good thing — allowing the motley cast to play to their strengths.

The drawback is that this pic is so predictable you don't need to be a fortune teller to know where it's heading. Intricate card-reveal moments filled with poker tension seize you less than intended. Although the film makes villain Wei impervious to penetration with black smoke forming around him like a dark aura.

At which point you may even forget that there's a strange power being deployed here. The tale relies less and less on it, preferring to avoid a madcap situation but embark on a sort of good-instinct-trumps-unfair-advantage morality lesson which straight-man Lim and comical Namewee propel quite well together.

Leaving stern-faced Philip Keung to unexpectedly provide the biggest laughs. He's the butt — there are close-ups of his “sexy” derriere — of the gay jokes here.

“What's the colour of my underwear?' he keeps asking to test whether someone possesses the lie-detecting ability.

It's crude humour.

But in this poker comedy, that's a funny full house. (3/5 stars)

Photos: mm2 Entertainment