Jackie and Yuen Biao play HK cops, Muscles and Ricky, hot on the trail of diamond thieves in Japan. After Ricky is captured, Muscles calls on his old orphanage buddies, the incarcerated Skinny (Sammo Hung), Rawhide (Richard Ng), Turbo, Teabag (Eric Tsang), and Sandy. All of his old friends are shady types, petty criminals who can go undercover and get close to the diamond thieves. The fact that they are helping out Muscles is kept from them, at first, because he was responsible for getting Skinny thrown in jail. Along with their chaperone Miss Woo (Sibelle Hu), codenamed "Baby" for the mission, the group travels to Japan to thwart the diamond thieves and get into as much trouble as possible.

This is a bumbling comedy at it most bumbling. It is more about gags than action sequences, though the finale features some great scenes- Jackie's trip through a psychedelic haunted house where he attacked at every corner by thugs in monster garb, and the most famous bit where Sibelle Hu fights Japanese body builder and power-lifting champion Michiko Nishiwaki. The film is worthwhile viewing for action fans for those two sequences alone. Having said that, now we move onto the comedy.

Comedy is hit or miss. HK comedy is really hit or miss. Aside from it often leaning to the more goofy side, there are often frequent cultural jokes that may fall completely flat on Western viewers. So, in My Lucky Stats there are long gag moments that, for even this goofy comedy fan, really wear thin, like when the gang disguises themselves as ninjas and each take turns tying each other up with Miss Woo. Another extended bit of tomfoolery has the crew trying to order a meal and pantomiming their orders to their Japanese waiter. The Lou Costelloish Teabag doesn't know how to pantomime "sausage", so he just pulls out, shall we say, a certain part of his male anatomy. The waiter comes back and everyone gets their order correct, except for Teabag, who gets a tiny mushroom.

With Sammo Hung behind the camera, the film keeps moving, and even if the gags fall flat the pacing is brisk and the tone so lighthearted it should be easy for moviegoers to get lost in the film.

The DVD: Fox

Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. Image quality is good. They have a pretty clean and crisp print. Now there is the occasional bit of softness and some grain, but much of that has to do with the films age and production value. Especially in the old days, HK films weren't going to suspend a days shooting because of an overcast sky and such. But, the colors are strong and the contrast nice and deep. The film looks it's best in the studio shot sequences, like the haunted house fight where the colorful cinematography is well-presented. Fans should be very pleased with his transfer.

Sound: Cantonese or English audio tracks, either 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround or DTS with optional English subtitles. Hey, a remix that isn't half bad? Say it isn't so? It really is territory that can go very wrong, cramming in new sound fx, losing the originals charm. But, here we get a new sound mix that really doesn't overdo it, mostly just taking the original tracks and separating them a bit, a little fx noise over here, a little score over there, and the dialogue firmly centered.

The subtitles are "dubtitles", made from the English dub rather than a direct translation. This is a good case to prove why taking this lazy route is a real hindrance to original language fans. The English dub has some voice over narration that the original language doesn't, it is a bit of over-explanation of Jackie's character tracking the diamond thieves. So as you are watching in Cantonese suddenly these subs pop up where there isn't a single word spoken on the track. Also, the dub diffuses some of the comedy, not translating certain jokes like the fact that Jackie is known in HK by the nickname of "Skinny Monkey" but in Japan they call him "Muscles." Likewise, other translations have Sammo's character being nicknamed "Kidstuff" instead of "Skinny."

Extras: Chapter Selections— Original and new trailers, plus trailers for other Fox/Fortune Star releases.

Conclusion: You know, as much as a grumble that the dubtitles may be, this is still a good buy. Since the comedic emphasis may be a turn off to some action afficionados, it really is a perfect $9 Jackie and Sammo movie. The image quality is pretty darn good for a mid-80's HK film, making this a good value for HK fans.