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The day before the economy bubble bursts: Bank clerk Teresa (Denise
Ho) desperately tries to sell risky bonds to people who can't afford to
lose. Sure, it strains her conscience, but she has to meet her business
goals to remain in her job. Inspector Cheung (Richie Ren) has
difficulties to commit, commit to his girlfriend Connie (Myolie Wu), to
the new flat they are planning to buy, or to taking care of his kid sister
whom he has only just found out about at his father's death bed. Loanshark
Yuen (Lo Hoi-Pang) is one of Teresa's regular customers, but he would
never buy any of her bonds, claiming his business makes much more money
without the risk of reinvestment. Unfortunately he lets everyone know how
rich he is ... Small fry triad runner Panther (Lau Ching Wan) is in a
heap of troubles because of brother Ho, another small fry gangster who
gets arrested on a regular basis and Panther has to bail him out again and
again and again. This costs money, and eventually, he has got no more and
noone is willing to lend him any more. Even his own men leave Panther
because his situation is hopeless. Then he meets an old buddy from way
back, brother Lung (Philip Keung), who has given up being a ganster and
become an illegal stock trader. He invites Panther to join his business,
and Panther spends all night trying to figure out how the stock market
works ... The day the bubble bursts: Everyone has lost everything, and
Teresa has to deal with her unhappy clients. Then Yuen waltzes in,
demanding a withdrawal of 10 million Dollars - simply because he can,
because he hasn't lost anything. However, in the last second, he cuts his
withdrawal in half and leaves 5 million Dollars with Teresa, unaccounted.
A few minutes later, he's killed in the bank's parking garage, his money
is stolen. Panther has spent all night learning about the stock market,
and now brother Lung tells him all the money is gone. Problem is, brother
Lung has invested tons of money from a triad boss, who will not take
likely to these losses - so Lung and Panther come up with a plan to rob
and kill Yuen. But in the parking garage, they are beaten to it by some
street punk. However, when Yuen and the punk kill each other, Panther
sneaks away with the loot. Lung and Panther show up at the triad boss to
return his money, but for the triad boss it was never about the money but
about the prinicple, so he stabs Lung almost lethally with a flower shaped
icepick, then lets Panther get him to a hospital - with the money.
However, Panther and Lung's chase to the next hospital is stopped short by
a police cordon, and with his dying breath, Lung tells Panther how to
invest the money they have stolen from Yuen ... In the cordoned-off
area, inspector Cheung saves the life of an old man trying to blow himself
(and his apartment building with him) up after he has lost everything in
the bubble burst. This near-death experience finally changes Yuen's fear
of commitment. But who knows if the apartment his girlfriend has already
chosen is still available? Panther invests all the money according to
Lung's advice, and makes a fortune. Only then does he realize the money is
actually his, because with Lung dead there is noone else who could lay
claim on it ... Teresa has kept the unaccoutned money Yuen has left
behind in her desk drawer all the time. At closing hour she realizes there
is noone in the whole world who will claim the 5 million Dollars - ever.
She quits her job she hated anyways on her way out to start off into a
brighter future ... Basically this is the ultimate movie about
greed: It's not an exercise of style over substance with a bit of
preaching woven in like Wall Street was but a biting satire that
twists and turns so constantly and light-footedly throughtout it's simply
exhilarating. Add to this director Johnnie To's refusal to tell his plot
in a linear timeline, but rather based on emotional emphasis, and you've
got a triumph in eccentric storytelling as well. Add to this a very
compact ensemble cast and you've got yourself ... well, not quite a
masterpiece, sometimes the film seems to simply lose itself in the numbers
of its subject matter a bit too much, and so after an explosive beginning,
that takes inspector Cheung from a crimescene to the inspection of an
apartment with his girlfriend in a matter of minutes, it lingers on
Teresa's daily office routines for a bit too long and then takes a bit too
long to again kick into high gear. But once it does, it never lets go
and makes this one into a utterly entertaining movie ...
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