[3.8]
Not quite as polished or hilarious as KUNG FU HUSTLE and SHAOLIN SOCCER, but Stephen Chow’s earlier movie has all the ridiculous elements that make him one of my favorite comedians. Chow stars as a character with the same name, but the film’s Chow is a famous chef who carefully manipulates his public image and swindles the public by putting out a chain of sub-par restaurants and convincing people to eat there through fake promotional material that shows him out-cooking his competitors. Yet, his pompous attitude is soon challenged by a vengeful plot by his assistant and colleague to reveal Chow as a fraud and take over his “God of Cookery” empire. Now, Chow is broke and gets himself into trouble when he insults some street vendor’s “Assorted Noodles” and gets his ass kicked by her gang. But she takes pity on him and asks him to join her team (turns out she has a secret obsession with him). The team quickly creates a new food, an elastic fish ball made from a combination of their fish ball and a competitor’s “Pissing Shrimp” (whatever that is). The ball becomes a hit and the group is now on their way to riches and fame. But, Chow challenges his old assistant/rival to a competition to determine who is now the real “God of Cookery”. Unfortunately, the final third of the movie is a bit sloppy and as the story gets complicated, so does the humor. Chow leaves for China to attend cooking school, the girl follows him, she saves him from an assassination plot, gets herself shot, Chow gets taken to a Shaolin temple and learns the secret art of cooking and fighting from the monks there, and then returns as a powerhouse chef. Um, okay. The battle’s judge steals the final scenes with her comic talent, and soon the competition is over and Chow ends up with the now beautiful girl chef (who got plastic surgery to fix the wound and ends up beautiful). Despite the horrible sexist implications (everyone distorts their faces when looking at the deformed girl), this is a pretty good comedy. The ending could have been better, but I still enjoyed most of the film up until then.
burning retina 