Mystery Files (1996)

Andy Hui is that 90s phenomenon, a slacker: all comics, baseball caps, laid back and skint. So skint in fact he and his sister Vivian Lai head to the mainland to help their cousin Edmond Leung solve a murder. Andy is a genius you see, like Columbo, who knows the murderer almost before the murder has taken place. In the first case an abusive husband is found dead, his wife's lover is suspected by Edmond but Andy uncovers the truth. Vivian looks cute but doesn't really add much except act girly and scream at all the right moments.

As Andy and Edmond are celebrating the solving of the case in a KTV bar another murder takes place there (how lucky!) And they begin to solve this one too, which is mixed up with the red herring of some ghostly supernaturalness...

To celebrate his reward money Andy packs Vivian off to HK and goes on a Malaysian cruise instead, there he fancies some singers but then finds out they are ladyboys. Yeah hes a slacker. Another murder takes place on the boat, and what has Ada Choi got to do with it? One thing for sure death seems to follow Andy, its definitely safer to keep away from him...

Enjoyable enough murder mystery(s), a bit contrived and low-budget but decent fun anyway. Its worth it alone for one of Vivian Lai's few forays into film. The film would probably work better as a mini series as its really three separate stories only linked by some of the same actors but enjoyable all the same.