Rotten Tomatoes

Movies / TV

    Celebrity

      No Results Found

       View All       Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

      The Top Bet

      1991 1h 34m Comedy Drama List
      Reviews 78% Audience Score 2,500+ Ratings A famous gambler's equally talented sister (Anita Mui) goes up against a fishmonger (Carol Cheng) who pretends to have supernatural abilities. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

      View All (45) audience reviews
      chris w 6 6 6 7 6 7 6 7 7 6 = 64 Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Comedian Stephen Chow portrays a supernatural gambler from the mainland effectively exploited by his uncle (Ng Man-tat) in Hong Kong. Directors Jeff Lau and Corey Yuen Kwai play most of the action straight but Chow has his way with a hilarious parody of John Woo's "The Killer" in the crowd-pleasing gambling comedy that broke all previous domestic records (including Woo's own 1986 watershed "A Better Tomorrow") and turned Chow into the colony's top box office draw deposing Jackie Chan who ruled the market during the '80s. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review Audience Member The Stephen Chow masterclass started here and what an entrance it is. He manages to combine with Ng Man Tat in a film that is not dissimilar to the archetype plots most his films revolve around. Again he enters as a poor man with a special talents, all culminating in a world event in which an inevitable delayed entrance occurs. What elevates this is the larger than life quirky characters. The mob bosses are quite something both with extreme eccentricities. âBilly❠also makes an entrance from nowhere to steal a scene. Ng Man Tat and his sound wave disorder is also set up well, especially when combined with an unrequited love. The tone is fantastically uneven with massive fight sequences exploding out at unforeseen moments with colour coded villains. The armpit gag also goes on for such a long period that it can only be magic. The film is always lively and is structured around a well executed finale. It is also great to think that this film was such a success that it caused a quasi-sequel to God of Gamblers to be filmed, with Chow reprising his role. That would have to be one of the most bizarre sequel pitches in history. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Audience Member It's a classic gamble movie. Stephen Chow become a king of gamble and have a mystical power. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/23/23 Full Review Audience Member I still remember this film created the hype of supernatural powers. Silly story, but fun to watch. I enjoyed it. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Audience Member Probably one of the most important Stephen Chow films in his career, for this is pretty much the first comedy Chow, who started with an extra and very small roles, did. Also in terms of how fine his gags are, this is good one. The combination with Man-Tat Ng, which we see in a lot of Chow's later works, is already excellent here (can say even the best). What is not to be forgotten is that this is a very early film by Jeffrey Lau and Corey Yuen, who release several creative and interesting action films later in their long-term collaboration (They both are in the film, too). This films was made as a parody of Yun-Fat Chow's "God of Gamblers" (1989), but Stephen Chow's character was selected to appear in the second of "God of Gamblers" series as one of the main characters, since his job and this film was very successful. This one's definitely enjoyable. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

      Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

      Photos

      View All The Top Bet photos

      The Top Bet

      The Top Bet (1991) The Top Bet (1991) The Top Bet (1991) The Top Bet (1991) View more photos

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A famous gambler's equally talented sister (Anita Mui) goes up against a fishmonger (Carol Cheng) who pretends to have supernatural abilities.
      Director
      Jeffrey Lau, Corey Yuen
      Screenwriter
      Jeffrey Lau
      Genre
      Comedy, Drama
      Original Language
      Chinese
      Release Date (DVD)
      Apr 27, 2004
      Runtime
      1h 34m