When old people gamble, it disturbs me. It disturbs me because either they need the money, in which case society has failed them or they don’t, in which case society has also failed them. Face it, if you’re 80 years old and getting on the bus to Atlantic City with thirty other 80 year-olds just so you can plant yourself in front of green table reeking of smoke and failure in order to fritter away your granddaughter’s college fund, that is your choice to make, but I’m thinkin’ there might be better ones.
“Your lucky day is coming” promises a fortune teller to Grandma (yes, “Grandma” as played by Tsai Chin). So Grandma does what any completely sane octogenarian would do: she goes to the bank, cashes out her life savings, and gets on a bus to Gambloria. Three roulette balls later, Grandma is a fairly rich woman. The problem with gambling, of course, is few of us know when to stop. Grandma next visits (I’m guessing) a pai gow table. Now, I don’t know the rules to pai gow very well, and my guess is neither does Grandma because two minutes later, she’s more broke than when she arrived.
On the bus ride home, her fortunes go schizophrenic when first, the old guy next to her dies, and next, the bus jolts his bag on top of her, which is choc’ full of mob money. Why was an old man taking mob money to a casino? Wait. That answer is simple. The better question is: why was an old man taking mob money from a casino, a casino this particular mob doesn’t operate? That one is never answered.
At this point, Lucky Grandma becomes, essentially, a lighter and heavier version of My Bodyguard. Grandma is acerbic, but shrewd, and she knows protecting her newfound luck from the mob ain’t gonna be easy. There is something truly wonderful, however, about an old woman standing up to the mob. You don’t have to like either the woman or her actions to get a smile out of a Grandma lecturing and schooling two cut-throat enforcers.
Lucky Grandma has tonal issues, as one might imagine. It’s funny to se e Grandma take the mob to task, but it can’t last forever, especially when you’re dealing with folks who break fingers and kneecaps for a living. However, this film never tried to be anything more than a look at an independent Chinese woman and her family, and on that level it delivers smiles to most any audience.
Casino grandma confuses this viewer
She should be a gambling eschewer
What’s a dollar or two?
You can’t take it with you
But you can flush it down a Chinatown sewer
Not Rated, 100 Minutes
Director: Sasie Sealy
Writers: Angela Cheng, Sasie Sealy
Genre: Old Lady Protagonist, woo!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Old Lady Protagonists of the world
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Not a good look when a mobster can’t shake down a grandma
