Casting and crew

Sng decided to gather the "Three Lees in Entertainment", Christopher Lee, Mark Lee and Li Nanxing, to star in a film together. According to an interview with Weekender Singapore, Sng said that "it started out as a joke, but all three of them actually agreed to do it". All three were listed as executive producers, together with Jack Neo and Melvin Ang. It was such a success that the actors started talking about their next project together.^[4][5]

Filming

Li, who has always played "solemn and heavy" roles, such as a cop, lawyer or baddie, took on his first comedic role because of his co-stars, saying in an interview with The Straits Times that he "signed on because of the other two." Initially, he felt awkward being cast as Vivian Lai's ex-boyfriend due to the age gap, so Sng altered the role to be her brother instead.^[6]

Filming started on October 31, 2016 with a production cost of $1.3 million, and lasted for 20 days.

Critical reception

Boon Chan of The Straits Times rated The Fortune Handbook a 2 out of 5 stars, stating that although important holiday themes such as "prosperity, the importance of family and bak kwa" are present, "the end result is far from savoury" as "(Sng's) characters laugh more than the audience - hearing laughter on the screen is not the same thing as watching a funny film".^[7]

John Li of MovieXclusive.com rated the film a 2.5 out of 5 stars, citing the "countless mentions of brands or appearances of products" and that "viewers may not find all gags funny and end up wondering why the characters are laughing a lot more than the audiences".^[8]