Benny Chan’s third Jackie Chan film – following Who Am I? and New Police Story – sees Chan play against type (sort of) as one half of a bumbling burglar routine with Louis Koo. Chan’s a gambling addict with an estranged father and Koo’s a philanderer with a pregnant wife. But the pair learn to take responsibility for their actions when they kidnap a baby from a wealthy HK family at the behest a warped billionaire who believes himself to be the child’s biological grandfather. At this point the film turns into a version of Three Men and a Baby as the buffoonish thieves harbour the toddler for a week, learning how to change nappies and prepare meals whilst visiting antenatal clinics. The ensuing slapstick is almost excusable but still a case for social services, as Chan and Koo smother the baby with pillows, put the toddler in a washing machine, drop him from a Ferris Wheel and attach his pram to a speeding truck. Just as the two discover their more tender side the kid is locked in a giant freezer.

For the most part, though, the gags are good, and Jackie can do hilarious physical comedy with his eyes closed. A particular highlight is a classic French farce involving mistaken identities all located within Chan’s cramped apartment, much like that classic sequence in Project A Part II. Among the great cast is Yuen Biao, playing an understated cop in his first collaboration with Jackie Chan since 1988’s Dragons Forever. The film lulls during the more compassionate scenes, layering sentiment on with a saccharine Cantopop trowel, but Benny Chan can handle big vistas of expensive action without suffocating the intricacies of Jackie Chan’s choreography, and the two are a good match.

AKA: Project BB; Rob-B-Hood