1.5/5 stars
A goofy Lunar New Year comedy that is awkwardly framed around a premise taken straight out of a dark psychological sci-fi thriller, Ha Ha Ha Happy New Year is scattershot, often terrible, and as confused about what it really is as its temporarily amnesiac protagonist.
A Hong Kong-Malaysia co-production that looks to be a passion project for Philip Keung Ho-man, who is both its producer and leading man, the film reunites him with Malaysian filmmaker Wu Peiji, who directed Keung in 2023’s The Locksmith, and boasts an “original story” from Keung’s wife, Anna Kam.
Keung plays Duan Yu-chen, a business tycoon and boss of a biotechnology company that specialises in pioneering cloning techniques. After he is abducted by rivals and left for dead in a fire, the injured Duan ends up in a nearby village with no memory of who he is.
There he is nursed back to health by So Hua (Jessica Hsuan), the resourceful caretaker of the local temple. Meanwhile, a mystery man has used Duan’s “skin cloning” procedure to replicate his face and take over his company.
