Well, I wasn't sure what I was in for here, when I sat down in 2021 to watch the 1988 Hong Kong comedy (Jin zhuang da jiu dian" (aka "Carry On Hotel"). But it being a Hong Kong movie was all that was sufficient for me to sit down to watch it.
"Carry On Hotel" felt like two different movies melded together in an attempt to make a single movie. First of all there was the part about a con artist working a fancy hotel, then suddenly it became a story about two car mechanics falling in love. I don't know what writer and director Jeffrey Lau was attempting to accomplish with this particular storyline, but it definitely didn't make for a wholesome movie.
And while "Carry On Hotel" definitely has a rather impressive ensemble of Hong Kong comedy actors on the cast list, with the likes of Jacky Cheung, Kent Cheng, Richard Ng and Eric Tsang, then the movie was just somewhat of a cluttered mess. Sure, it was watchable, but it hardly made for an enjoyable movie experience. Much less a movie that actually warrants more than just a single viewing.
I hadn't heard about "Carry On Hotel" before now in 2021, when I had the opportunity to sit down to watch it. But this movie was one that had managed to elude my radar, and it is just as quietly vanish back into oblivion. Writer and director Jeffrey Lau didn't manage to impress with this one.
My rating of "Carry On Hotel" lands on a less than mediocre four out of ten stars.
