#MovieMonday: Big Three Dragons (大三元) Review: Only For Fans of Ella and Mahjong

If you’re one who watches movies every week, you’d know that last week was a rather…dry week.

I mean, just look at the new movies that were released and you might just opt to subscribe to Netflix instead.

However, if you’ve just been looking at Golden Village’s listing, you might have missed out a movie.

Big Three Dragons (大三元).

Here’s the trailer:

Just like More Than Blues, this movie, distributed by Cathay Cineplexes, is only available in Cathay and other independent cinemas, so you might not know its existence if you’ve been watching all your movies in GV cinemas.

More Than Blues became a sleeper hit despite its limited screening, making the sobfest the movie of 2018 (BuffLord95 says one), so would Big Three Dragons achieve the same results?

Let’s find out.

Less Than Blues

Just so you know, when More Than Blues was out, getting a seat was as hard as catching Mewtwo in Pokemon GO. However, getting a seat in Big Three Dragons is as easy as catching Magikarp or Rattata. Just take a look at tonight’s availability in Causeway Point:

And this is despite the fact that Ella, everyone’s favourite tomboy in the past, is starring in this comedy.

So how does it fare?

One word: LATE.

CNY Movie That’s Late for Singaporeans

For a start, here’s the synopsis:

Sheng Enterprise is the biggest name in competitive mahjong and this is where the story of ‘Big Three Dragons’ begins. Shun Shao Bai is the heir apparent to the company, but ends up banished from the company after his playful antics at the company’s anniversary party disgraces him. Left with nothing to his name, Shun must defeat his uncle in a deadly mahjong game to win his rightful place back in the company. Problem is…Shun is terrible at mahjong! He’s never won a single round of mahjong in his life! Enter the feisty Wu Que, who takes Shun under her wing and brings him to the famous Wu Lian Palace to become the ultimate mahjong master.

Here’s when the first problem occurs: in a good movie, the synopsis won’t usually be able to relate the plot completely. Just think of Captain Marvel’s synopsis: if you’ve been reading all our #MovieMondays, you’d understand.

But for Big Three Dragons?

That’s erm, really what the movie is all about.

While it has a rather good review online…

…I beg to differ.

Ella plays her role extremely well—in fact, given her bubbly character, I won’t have known that she was acting. Derek Chang, whom I admit that I didn’t know about and didn’t care about, played a rich man’s son like he’s really one (or maybe he’s one).

Given that the acting’s there, it should be a hit, but I just couldn’t laugh at some of the over-the-top jokes.

Some jokes are mere stick-slap humour that seems to be taken out from a Stephan Chow’s movie, and while the actors played them well, I just couldn’t relate to them.

But the movie might have gained traction should it be played during Chinese New Year.

Late By Two Months

Over in Taiwan, the movie was released on 30 January 2019, which was the CNY period. Given that mahjong and CNY are BFF, people would at least feel the CNY vibes. Anything that’s not funny becomes funny ‘cuz everyone’s happy.

However, watching this movie now is like having bak kwa today: I might still like bak kwa, but bak kwa tastes the best during CNY.

By the way, you won’t need to know mahjong to understand the plot, but it’s pretty clear that it’s for mahjong fans.

Now, without the laughter and the CNY vibes, I can’t help but to give this a…

Rating: 2/5

…even when I’m a S.H.E fan. I’m sorry, Ella.