Rob N Roll (2024) (Blu-ray) (Hong Kong Version) Blu-ray Region All

The dark and rollicking crime comedy of errors rides hard on its ambitiously slippery screenplay and its trio of leading actors who can deliver relatable comedy and emotional gravitas in equal measures. Richie Jen and Gordon Lam play tired, everyday Hongkongers just trying to keep it together for one more day.

Fai (Jen) runs a ramshackle elderly home but he can’t pay the bills anymore. Robby (Lam) is a taxi driver who lives in a shoebox with his pregnant wife and screaming mother. Family, financial and middle-age crisis are coming all at once for these two desperate buddies who crack a desperate plan. Inspired by some news stories about robberies, they impulsively decide they should pull a heist themselves.

All kinds of wires begin to cross as Fai and Robby's attempt to acquire a gun unwittingly brings them into the circle of Aaron Kwok as guns-ablazing robber Mui, who is trying to get his loot back. Also in the mix is John Chiang as a fixer, Lam Suet as a debt collector, John Chiang Jr. as an exchange shop robber, singers Mike Tsang and Ansonbean as two small-time punks, and Maggie Cheung Ho Yee as a cop on the chase while imaginatively connecting the dots. One gun and two bags of cash transfer from hand to hand – or taxi trunk to taxi trunk – in a series of confusing swipes, mix-ups and confrontations that go from funny to deadly on a dime.

There's a manic tone to the escalating series of happenstance mishaps and volatile run-ins. The topsy-turvy is in the clever details, like a quick series of pool locker switcheroos that confused both Lam Suet and me, and in the unpredictable nature of Aaron Kwok's off-the-wall character who provides much of the humor and danger of the film. I still don't think the buckteeth are funny though.