Synopsis

Four friends have found that the stress of living and working in Hong Kong is too much for them. So they have made a pact to commit suicide by jumping off a high building. Ben ( Hacken Lee)is petrified to marry his long time girlfriend, whom he considers not suitable for him despite her careful attention to him. Malcolm ( Andy Hui) had just found out that he is a father, consequently he becomes impotent, unable to enjoy the numerous women in his life. Chai ( Chapman To) is married, but has recently lost his job. His wife is highly successful and he can't face the prospect of being a house husband. Long (Ekin Cheng) is fed up with being treated badly by his boss. Long is late for the pact because his boss has him stuck in a meeting. As they eventually are ready to jump...some one else jumps from a lower window. This is Shaun ( Shaun Tam) a video gamer who was losing his game. No one of course dies and they all have to go on with their lives.

Long heads to work the next morning feeling like a new man. He is determined not to let his boss ( George Lam) yell at him any more. Almost immediately of course he his summoned into his boss's presence who demands to know why he had tried to commit suicide. Once again totally intimidated by his boss he lies that he was not involved. His boss however gets him to sign a vacation slip and sends him to a local resort for some time off.

Of course the vacation is not what Long expected, he realizes that all his co-workers are also at the resort. When their boss calls them for a meeting Long tries to persuade his co workers not to be intimidated and threatens to slap him, but when his boss arrives at his elbow he quickly covers his words.

The friends get together to try to help Malcolm figure out who his son might be. However they disagree as to which girl was the mother. Malcolm's phone rings during the conversation. Two of his recent women are determined that he will not be able to resist them and they set up as date with him. When Malcolm is unable to perform they make sure that his problem is shared with everyone on the internet.

Shaun helps by trying to delete as many web pages as he can. Chai brings a wine full of mice made by an uncle to help Malcolm recover. Long decides it should be heated. When a stranger comes over to discuss Malcolm's problem, the friends can't contain their mirth at their friend's predicament.

However they are friends and of course they try to help Malcolm figure out who the mother of his child might be, along with other helpful, or not so helpful, comments. Three women are finally selected as likely candidates. Ben also needs help to ditch his girlfriend (Candy Lo). She has paid off his debts and they figure that if he can pay her back he can legitimately dump her. They offer money to help him, however when she calls and he is unable to resist her demands they take back their money in disgust. In the meantime Chai has discovered his old girlfriend ( Karena Lam)and is wondering if being with her, and working in her bakery, would be better than being with his workaholic wife.

Long and his co-workers are all set to enjoy a hot pot together when he receives a call from their boss Rico. Rico is miserable because he unable to make any headway with his father in law who is really the head of the company. Also his wife looking out for his health doesn't want him to eat any meat. Hearing the Long has guests for a hot pot, Rico invites himself. When Long returns from getting some more utensils from the kitchen he finds that his co -workers have disappeared not wanting to spend time with the boss.

Rico's wife, however, tracks him down. Rico has to show her on his phone that he is with Long and that there is no meat to be seen. Of course the meat ends up on the floor as the two of them attempt to fool Rico's wife. Rico apologizes and confides in Long that he can't please his father in law. Long is sympathetic but also voices his own frustrations that no matter how hard he works he can never please Rico either. Rico knows that Long is frustrated and tells him to punch him if that's what he wants. Long however produces a bottle of whisky and the two proceed to drink and promise to support each other A new relationship between them is forged and the vow to produce a good proposal for Rico's father in law.

Rico still despondent that his father in law won't read any of his proposals decides that he too will jump off a building. Long in an attempt to dissuade him holds up a magazine cover with a picture of his father in law on it. Rico rises to the bait and comes in swinging at the picture. In the process actually connecting his fist with his actual father in law. Panicked Rico takes off leaving Long with the unconscious man. Waking up he reveals that Rico's proposal is brilliant and that it should be presented without delay.

It is during the presentation that Long receives the phone call informing him that Ben has been run over by a car. Racing to the hospital they are devastated to discover that he is dead. Returning to the the top of the building the three remaining friends wonder what had made them want to commit suicide. The situations that had seemed so devastating had resolved and life went on. At the funeral Long introduces Rico, who is looking for a script writer and offers Chai the job. Ben's girlfriend finds she can see him and doesn't feel so alone. Malcolm is happy with his son, and Chai's former girlfriend is able to keep her bakery.

Review

The movie directed by Barbara Wong tells the story of several Hong Kong men. Although the movie is entitled 6 strong men, the gamer Shaun really doesn't qualify, and Rico ( George Lam)is only partially qualified due to his poor relationship with his father in law. The movie actually focuses principally on four men. Long ( Ekin Cheng), Malcolm (Andy Hui), Ben ( Hacken Lee) and Chai ( Chapman To). The leading ladies Candy Lo, Karena Lam and Huang Yi do an admirable job with characters which are not adequately developed and basically inconsequential to the story.

Ekin Cheng as Long makes an endearing white collar loser whose work life is horrendous to the point he wants to punch his boss out. Despite his poor relationship with his boss he seems to be well liked by his co-workers. He is totally unable to stand up to his boss until they finally get drunk together, and the resulting scenes are full of posturing, quick cover-ups and even tears. The relationship with George Lam is also beautifully choreographed, Long being thwarted in his attempts to stand up for himself at every turn. Their final understanding of each other and support allows things to be resolved for both characters. Ekin seems to have truly enjoyed making this movie and his character is the one, together with Hacken Lee who is constantly cracking jokes at the expense of the other characters in the movie, most notably Malcolm. . Spending the bulk of the movie dressed in a suit is a plus as it truly looks good on him.

Chapman To's dilemma really doesn't involve his friends, although he is totally involved in all of their difficulties. He spends much of the movie overacting. On the top of the building his fear of heights was obvious and it was only his co-star's calmness that enabled him to complete the scene. His attempted extramarital affair with Ding, played by Karena Lam is sweet.

Hacken Lee's selfish reason's as Ben for trying to dump his girlfriend Wincy played by Candy Lo, don't muster much sympathy from his friends who consider her to be the perfect wife. Ben consequently feels betrayed. His untimely demise at the end of the movie is an unforeseen twist, however the resulting funeral seems far to jovial to be realistic.

Malcolm played by Andy Hui is one of the funnier situations in the movie. His pathos and panic is beautifully portrayed. Ekin Cheng wastes no time getting in the jokes and laughter at his situation. The various woman acting with him were also great at portraying the aging stud, who has made a number of enemies along the way.

Both Barbara Wong and the Producer Lawrence Cheng have cameo roles in the movie as newly weds, to introduce the cake maker Ding to the audience. The movie makes extensive use of voice over's to give the background to each of the men's situations. This works but it also makes the movie disjointed, carving it up into a series of vignettes rather than a coherent story.

The movie is produced by Filmko Entertainment and distributed by Mei Ah. It is available on both DVD and VCD. The DVD contains both a Cantonese and Mandarin track with both Chinese and English subtitles. The DVD also contains the film's trailers and a "Making of" segment.