King (Andy Lau from the first God Of Gamblers movie) is a professional gambler who ends up in prison after murdering a man, at the gambling table, in self defense. Behind him he leaves a pregnant wife that he's neglected almost totally in favor of the cards. 5 years later King is released and wants nothing but to re-unite with his wife and the child he's never seen. He enlists small time hoodlum Dragon (Nick Cheung, who also appeared in the subsequent Conman-movies) to help him locate his wife while also teaching him a thing or two about the art of gambling. King himself does not really want to return to the tables but is forced into action when the close ones to him are put into jeopardy...

A little bit into The Conman 1999 I started to see a movie I didn't expect from Wong Jing. I had in mind a very loud and flashy entry into the gambling-genre (with SEVERAL instances of bad humor inserted at every corner). While those traits are present it seems that the director wanted to surprise his audiences a little by making a slightly more warm and human movie. He does manage to maintain that idea almost all the way through and credit must also go to Andy Lau's presence that helps to realize some of Wong Jing's intentions. There are still a few things that does not work in this movie, mainly towards the end where the wacky and frankly annoying side of Wong Jing's way of filmmaking shines through. In terms of gambling scenes Wong Jing is a veteran and once again he creates some nice tension through editing and a nice array of stylish camera angles.

The script could be seen as a rehash of movies like God of Gamblers Return but that's being quite picky. However there are other flaws to be found in Wong Jing's script. There really is only one interesting and fairly fleshed out character in this and that is King. It's evident that a little time went into giving him some depth and sympathy without the character being overly complex. But no other character has an arc and comes off as rather flat and lifeless, making them pretty meaningless to the story. The movie would've worked so much better if Wong Jing had given the main characters around Andy a little depth at least. Despite huge flaws like this, actors like Nick Cheung and Waise Lee are rarely boring to look at, so the movie doesn't drag when they're on screen.

At 107 minutes, The Conman 1999 is too long and the final section in particular needed some trimming. Wong Jing divides his time between the big final gambling showdown and the World Cup Soccer final of 1998! In the movie that game is arranged so that the result will favor King and it's a fun idea at the beginning. The director does become very self indulgent (he makes an appearance himself in this part of the movie) and busy with the soccer bit that he almost forgets the card game. Therefore he does not reach triumphs in excitement and tension that similar showdowns in his previous movies have.

That Wong Jing loves childish and sex-related honor is no news to fans of Hong Kong Cinema. That it turns up in this movie is not really surprising either but he keeps it almost at a minimum and instead gives us some more human comedic moments between the characters. When his 'trademark' comedy does appear it's so outrageously out of place and incredibly non-funny that you can't help to wonder if he's the only one who finds it amusing. Having said that, I think he has the viewing audience in mind and in Hong Kong this type of broad humor plays well. If he had an international audience in mind, he would be better off trying out more of the subtle humor that he can pull off if he TRIES.

Star Andy Lau is the only actor that is given a chance to do good work since the mentioned script problems doesn't apply to his character. I always like it when Andy plays a more quiet and human character like in Running Out Of Time and A Moment Of Romance and we get to see some of that in this movie also. His journey as a character isn't something new but combined with Wong Jing's written character and Andy's performance, there's sympathy and humanity created in King. The other cast including Nick Cheung, Athena Chu and Waise Lee are your typical stock characters and is only really as good as the script allows them to be. I do think Nick did what he could and came off as less annoying in terms of wacky sidekicks to the hero.

The Conman 1999 was still a minor surprise coming from Wong Jing. I don't think he'll ever tone down the aspects that made him 'famous' so this is probably as good as we'll see him do these days.

The Conman is a pretty restrained movie, which is suprising, since it comes from Wong Jing and co-stars Nick Cheung. Actually, this restraint works in the movie's favor, especially since Andy Lau isn't exactly a dynamic actor. And despite the film's gambling overtones, it is actually more of a romantic drama/comedy, with a lot of the running time dedicated to Andy and Athena's relationship. But these bits work well. Athena Chu is cute as always and Andy is convincing as the world-weary gambler (though the "old age" make up -- which consits of a bad grey dye job -- looks pretty cheesy). Nick Cheung seems to have forgotten that he's supposed to be the next Stephen Chow and reigns himself in his performance, which makes his part actually funny in parts, especially when he's starring in some fake commericals shown during the World Cup game. And some props must be given up to Wong Jing, who puts in a funny parodic performance as a bumbling TV producer (and he also shows his sense of humor by taking some shots at his "fat playboy" image in some of the aforementioned commericals).

This is nothing even close to Wong Jing's gambling classic God of Gamblers, but it's a decent way to kill ninety minutes.

In "The Conman" we get to see Nick Cheung as the side kick, a position that Lau had when Chow Yun Fat was the leading man in "The God of Gamblers." Nick shows great promise in this film. Where "The Conman" deviates from previous gambler films is in its straightforward denouement of King as a fallen sharper. Lau as King gets a chance at revenge while getting involved in a bevy of contrived circumstances that present themselves when he gets mixed up with Nick's sister, played by Athena Chu.

One of the nice touches is the presentation of the action through the placement of the camera. When the movie goes about its business of telling the story, the camera is usually centered. Whenever the action takes place, the camera is above or below center, giving the viewer a film noir-like camera angle. When the camera looks upward, downward or is askance we know something is about to take place outside the film's narrative.

"The Conman" is a return for Wong Jing to what he knows best, and what he's very successful at; a view of the gaming underworld that is nasty, and in this case, a tad grittier than in his earlier works. Where "The God of Gamblers" put Chow on a pedestal, "The Conman" is more universal in that it portrays Lau as an everyman, and he pulls it off in a convincing fashion. He no longer has to apologize for being just another pop-icon who happens to be in a movie. Lau has reached a point where he is comfortable with himself on the screen. He can now be called an actor.