Synopsis: Ada Choi is a reincarnated thief who was previously male - but in his new life he looks like Ada Choi. Ada has the ability to see bad things in the future, which is great because she becomes an insurance salesperson. Great for her clients, that is. Her 100% payout rate bankrupts the company, and from them on her new powers continue to bring her trouble. Michael Tong turns up as a triad boss/love interest, while Pang Dan shows up as the jealous moll. Sadly, Ada has been cursed by Heaven to be loveless, which means that she'll have major problems if she falls in love. (93 Mins)

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Views: Alex Cheung's final film as a director is a bit of an odd one indeed. It opens in heaven where the thief, Mak Ah Chat, is next in line for reincarnation. Due to the good-natured reasons behind his stealing while on earth, his heavenly barristers convince the judge to have him sent back with the chance to help people. The judge agrees, but on the condition that his return will have him cursed to be loveless – something which Mak brushes off without a second thought. But once back in the land of the living, Mak has been reincarnated as a young girl called Lily, now with the ability to see the unfortunate side of people's futures. Although she warns her father of his death by cause of an 'apple', her family ignores her warning and punishes Lily for saying such things. Obviously spooked by the comment, her father avoids anything apple-related on his way to work, only to have a newspaper page blow into his face while crossing the road. As he peels it off and sees a picture of an apple before him, a truck mows the man down and kills him. As the year's pass, the now-adult Lily works in a busy bar/restaurant where she is picked on by her co-workers and customers. After a run-in with some triads leaves her shaken, Lily quits her job, and in an odd turn of events, triad Alan returns to find her and then easily convinces her that he loves her – in fact, tricking her into becoming a hooker for his gang. She is soon saved (by default) by triad boss Fung and sets out to find a new job as an insurance saleswoman, but once again, is drowned in bad luck that sees her abused and chased away from potential clients. After fainting on a doorstep, Lily finds help from Doctor Law who gives her the medicine she needs for free, in order to get her back on her feet again. He continues to show his goodwill by introducing Lily to his friends who all sign up for her insurance plan, which helps her greatly. Meanwhile, a triad war kicks off between Fung's gang and others that see most of his men killed. Having remembered a warning from Lily, Fung Wen saves himself from a brutal death that sees his enemies plummet to their death when a construction elevator breaks. He soon seeks her out with the intention of starting a relationship, but as her curse (and heavenly prosecutor keeps reminding her), this second chance at life comes with a loss of love!

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I really don't know what to make of Made In Heaven. It's an odd blend of comedy and triad action that feels like it belongs more in Wong Jing's filmography than Alex Cheung's, offerings shades of My Left Eye See's Ghosts and Mad Detective in some bizarre way. Having made his début with the fantastic Cops & Robbers in 1979, Cheung Kwok Ming spaced his following 5 films out over the next decade, while waiting a good 7 years before helming this. Although he appeared in a few roles as a bit-player, from Tsui Hark's Dangerous Encounters Of The 1st Kind through to Donnie Yen's Kung Fu Jungle, Cheung also wrote the majority of his 7 films, shot a few of them, and worked as the FX Director on the super fun, Legend Of Wisely starring Sam Hui and Ti Lung. But apart from a couple of small roles in later films, I'd say it was the box-office-bomb that is Made In Heaven that most likely ended his career, shortly after release. While not a dreadful movie in the grand scheme of things, Made In Heaven does contain a few entertaining moments between the humour and the action, with a decent enough cast of recognisable faces from that era of Hong Kong cinema. Ada Choi (wife of Hong Kong superstar Max Zhang), who appeared alongside Stephen Chow Sing Chi in Hail The Judge, and played the Princess Iron Fan in A Chinese Odyssey 1 & 2, does a great job as Lily Wong with both the comedy elements and the more dramatic side to it all. Still going strong today, Choi went on to star in titles such as The Suspect from Ringo Lam, Agent Mr. Chan, S Storm, and brought back her character of Princess Iron Fan for the wild action-comedy, Just Another Pandora's Box. Actor Michael Tong Man Lung, who starred in films such as Somebody Up There Likes Me, Sexy & Dangerous 1 & 2, Purple Storm, An Eye For An Eye, Man Of Tai Chi, and The Four, stars as Fung – the triad who takes a shine to Choi after he saves her life. The often hilarious Law Kar Ying, popular for his roles in a host of Stephen Chow Sing Chi comedies, stars as Doctor Law – Lily Wong's saving grace at one stage (who also falls for the poor girl), and Diana Pang Dan of Evil Instinct, The Imp, and Devil Snake Girl fame, stars as Fung's ass-kicking moll who gets a little jealous of Lily stealing her man. Popular big beast, Kwai Chung, stars as Fung's right-hand man and gets in on a bit of action throughout. Although he started with a small role in the late 70s, Kwai really jumped into the industry a good decade later going on to star in films like Triad Story, Robotrix, Angel Terminators, C'est La Vie Mon Cheri, and a host of Troublesome Night sequels.

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While the action comes and goes, it really isn't anything to write home about, but it does entertain. This is down to some neat work from Wong Wai Fai, a Shaw Brothers actor (who has continued on front of the camera in many hit titles) who began assisting in choreography work a good decade before his debut as martial arts director on Made In Heaven. From titles like City War, Sleazy Dizzy, Guns of Dragon, First Option, Fatal Assignment, and more, Wong would go on to choreograph titles such as Sasori, Triple Tap, Cold War, Hit Team, Stool Pigeon, No Problem 2, Golden Job and others. Popular Hong Kong film mogul Henry Fong Ping, star of over 80 films including Saviour Of The Soul, Black Mask, A Taste Of Killing & Romance, and 2 Young, produces, with Wong Po Man providing the cinematography...

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Overall: Although it isn't the worst thing out there, Made In Heaven just feels like it's missing something and isn't a film you really need to rush out to see!