Lucky Grandma review – gambling granny goes on fun knockabout caper

Former Bond girl Tsai Chin confounds expectations brilliantly as an older woman who gets mixed up with the Chinese mafia

Sentimentalising, patronising and generally disrespecting our elders is by now enough of a movie trope that any title including the words grandma" or grandpa" causes an involuntary shudder. That Lucky Grandma isn't one of those films is mostly down to its star, Tsai Chin, whose many attributes include the ability to conduct full conversations with a lit cigarette suspended from her bottom lip. One look at Grandma's stern face tells us she did not come to play.

Related: Tsai Chin: 'What was it like being in bed with Sean Connery? Fine'