3.5/5 stars
For all the talk of Table of Six ranking third on the list of highest-grossing Hong Kong films of all time, it is easy to overlook the incongruous fact that the 2022 film was a single-location comedy in which six characters keep talking around a dinner table.
Then the bombshell dropped: Dayo Wong Tze-wah, the reigning box office king of Hong Kong’s Lunar New Year movies, would not reprise his leading role as Steve, the eldest of three half-brothers embroiled in relationship troubles – and the love interest of Meow (Lin Min-chen), a sweet social media idol.
But as Table for Six 2 opens, his absence is barely felt amid the mayhem surrounding the returning quintet: they’re running a burgeoning wedding planning business together and now desperately try to make an impression in front of the gathering media, even going so far as to stage a fake marriage proposal.
One thing leads to another and the film, coming in at an ambitious 133 minutes, abruptly sets its two remaining pairs of lovers up for wedding. Gone is the meticulous scripting of the original, however, as Chan embraces chaos with a misplaced ring here, an ad hoc pregnancy test there in the early goings.
The second wedding banquet in the film, held in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park in honour of PR firm owner Bernard (Louis Cheung Kai-chung) and his cultural conservationist fiancée Monica (Stephy Tang Lai-yan), is a far more emotionally resonant affair because of its participants’ melancholic backstories.
Nobody would have been able to say this about Tang just a few years ago, but the actress has reinvented herself to such a remarkable extent in such a short time that she is now effortlessly anchoring a festive ensemble comedy that is otherwise notable for its colourful supporting cast and decidedly topsy-turvy plotting.
It is a marvel to see Monica juggle a partner traumatised by his unhappy childhood, a half-brother (newcomer Jeffrey Ngai Tsun-sang again impressing as a likeable fool) who epitomises her own broken family’s past, and a boisterous relative and sponsor (Tse Kwan-ho) whose shark fin business goes against all her beliefs.
As a Lunar New Year offering that valiantly touches upon both the best and worst sides of family and romantic relationships, this roller coaster of a film should easily satisfy fans of the original – and maybe even convert a few uninitiated viewers.