Wong Jing is up to his old tricks with Treasure Inn, a martial arts/comedy mash-up that throws just about everything into the mix in order to entertain the viewer. Like most of Wong's output, this movie isn't going be winning any awards, but for fun brainless popcorn fluff, it does its' job well enough.

Starring together in a film for the third time in as many years, Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung play Liu and Brad, two junior police officers who see their ticket to the big time when a huge jade statue is stolen and taken to the titular Treasure Inn to be sold to the highest bidder. The duo head to the inn, along the way meeting up with a pair of pretty thieves (Charlene Choi and Crystal Huang) and a doctor (Tong Da-Wei) who also happens to be a kung fu master.

Wong Jing is not a film-maker known for producing films with deep meaningful stories behind them, and Treasure Inn is definitely no exception. The movie lays down a well-worn roadmap early on and follows it all the way to the end, offering no surprises for the viewer. Liu and Brad stumble their way through their investigation while spouting one-liners and romancing the ladies, eventually saving the day despite their apparent block-headed stupidity. This is not Citizen Kane, or even Dumb and Dumber for that matter, but Wong keeps things moving along fast enough that most people should be able to forgive at least some of the film's shortcomings.

Treasure Inn is not a movie that should be taken in if you are an overly nit-picky viewer or someone looking for a great representation of the martial arts genre. Most every element present is broken in some way, such as the over-dependence on wirework and CGI in the action scenes, or having a nearly thirty year old Charlene Choi playing the same sort of role she performed in when she was a teenybop singing star. But with Wong Jing's genius (or madness, depending on your view of his filmography) things are pulled together just well enough that Treasure Inn manages to doggie-paddle out of the shallow end of the B-movie pool.

RATING: 6