Kung Fu Hustle

(2004) dir. Stephen Chow
viewed: 02/04/06

A few friends had oft commented on how funny Stephen Chow is to me, but as familiar as I have/had been with Hong Kong films, I had never seen any of his stuff. So, when Kung Fu Hustle was getting all the buzz for being good and funny, I finally managed to get around to seeing it.

I don’t know how exemplary of his stuff it is. It’s pretty funny. It has some classically funny types of moments in the film like when Chow is calling out the villagers for a fight and the short guy turns out to be 7 feet tall and the guy with glasses comes out as utterly buff. The visual humor is straight out of the silent cinema in a way, but still effective when done right. Chow clearly has a knack for it. It’s a clear satire/homage to the kung fu genre, with its action sequences even directed by Yuen Wo Ping and Sammo Hung. I guess this is what I considered its downside, that in some ways — and maybe this is my ignorance of the genre — that it was more homage than comedy at times.

I actually thought that it was pretty fun and I would be inclined to watch one of his more well-known films. But after asking some friends at work, I didn’t have any recommendations. Anyone?