Hong Kong veterans pep up Wonder Mama

BEFORE he took a break from making films about a decade ago, Clifton Ko was a box-office champ whose family-centred dramas made him sort of the Jack Neo of Hong Kong cinema.

His heartfelt comedies always struck a chord with the locals and his annual madcap Lunar New Year offerings - It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World and All's Well, Ends Well - became successful franchises.

He made a comeback last year with Wonder Mama, a light-hearted farcical dramedy featuring winning performances from a cast of Hong Kong cinema old-timers led by Petrina Fung Bo Bo.The former child star is (literally quite) Lovely, a shy 50-year-old librarian and single mother whose mellow existence is turned upside down when her warring parents (1970s screen siren Susan Shaw Yin Yin and veteran actor Kenneth Tsang) decide to get a divorce.