My Review of "Lucky Grandma"

Lucky Grandma is a comedy that came out in 2019. I didn't hear too much about this one because it is a low budget independent movie. Although, the grandma starts off as an unlikeable grump, I eventually grew to like her through the movie. I went even so far as cheered for her by the end of the movie. Despite the many comical situations that happen in this movie there are some deeper existential questions sprinkled throughout the movie.

This movie starts off with our lucky grandma. She's a Chinese widow with not much money left to her name. Her only family left is her son and his family. They invite her to their house for her birthday and you immediately notice that she's not very keen on the party. She looks like she doesn't want to be there but yet her son is adamant about her moving in with his family.

The thing is she wants to have her independence and she's resentful because of her late husband. You see the two of them have worked together all their lives and yet had nothing to show for it when he passed away. She hates having no money and no options in life when she should be enjoying her retirement years.

When grandma goes to a fortune teller she discovers that all signs are showing that she's going to have great luck. She really believes in superstition and zodiacs so she heeds her fortune teller's advice and goes to the casino to test her luck.

To her amazement she does have luck and we're talking comically ridiculous luck. It's pretty funny to see the expression on her face change ever so slightly after each win. This wouldn't be a movie if there wasn't any misfortune though.

Without going into too much details, her luck doesn't last forever and well she gets involved with the wrong money. From the sounds of this you'll probably guess where this is going. Yes this part is quite predictable but there are a lot of funny antics during grandma's crazy journey.

There's where the comedy comes in. She builds a relationship with this good hearted bodyguard and their interactions are quite innocent but hilarious at the same time. A small little granny with a giant sized bodyguard is already comical visually. When you realize how kind hearted the bodyguard is and how greedy the grandmother is it's added icing to the cake.

Some of the existential undertones include what is valuable in our lives. Money is obviously a big factor in this movie but in the end we realize maybe there are things more important. The way we earn money is also questioned. Money that comes from underhanded individuals seems to be cursed as only destruction and bad luck crosses the paths of those holding it.

The movie is somewhat predictable but the characters outshine the story. Grandma starts off as a very unlikeable character but the movie explains why she is this way. We then start to gain some sort of rapport with her especially when she interacts with her bodyguard and her grandson. In understanding her motives we then start to root for her because she soon becomes the underdog in a huge organized crime war.

Overall, I didn't expect to like this movie as much as I did. Yes, it's a low budget movie and it definitely shows with some of the special effects and action sequences. That's not the point of this movie though. It's about the characters and they did a good job in building their personalities. I have to give this movie a 7 out of 10. It's worth checking out but only for those that are willing to read subtitles or know some Mandarin.