1994 - FROM BEIJING WITH LOVE, funny spoof of James Bond films

Although most Westerners know Hong Kong martial arts and comedian Jackie Chan, actor/director Stephen Chow equally deserved to be known just as well Chan.

This film is a funny satire of the James Bond film series,  At the time of release the Pierce Brosnan era in the James Bond series was in full flower.  However this film seems like Chow is spoofing the Roger Moore era of the Bond films.  In any case there is some very funny spy satire stuff throughout the film along with Chow's slap sticky humor.

As always in a Chow movie he has cast the female lead with a gorgeous performer. In this film Anita Yuen is his chosen love interest who is also a double agent sent to kill him.  She communicates with her evil boss through a toilet that has a two way television link in it.

If you are a Bond fan there are lots of in jokes.  The gadgets don't work very well and the henchmen are even more over the top than "Jaws" in the Roger Moore Bond films. Chow plays the James Bond spoofed character with the correct mix of Bondian arrogance and incompetence with a cigarette literally glued to his lips.  

 

The film was written by Stephen Chow, Roman Cheung/Vincent Kok and Lee Lik-Chi.  The running time is 83 minutes.

1996 - THE GOD OF COOKERY - a funny Stephen Chow film.

Stephen Chow should have been a bigger deal in the West.  Already a big star in Asia he never really received the recognition that Jackie Chan was finally able to achieve.  Chow made a bunch of popular and highly profitable films in Hong Kong.  The God of Cookery was one of Chow's biggest hits.

In this film Chow spoofs celebrity chefs and those celebrity chef cooking shows.  Chow plays a character named "Stephen Chow."  After humiliating just about everyone who he perceives to be standing in his way.  He gets his comeuppance by losing his show and all of his sponsorships.  This leads to Chow ending up in an area of Hong Kong where they cook and sell street food. There he befriends a facially scarred woman played by the performer Karen Mok who makes something called "pissing beef balls" It's a dumpling that ultimately squirts fluid all over your face as you eat it.  Chow knows a potentially popular food when he sees it so he sets out to market it with a line of canned pissing beef ball delicacies.

 

The humor is an incredible mix of martial arts, Chinese word play (which I suspect will go over the heads of most Western viewers) and lots of jokes about a Shaolin Monastery where he is trained to be a humble master chef.

 

Chow mixes so many comedic styles and genres that at times it's jarring to see him go from pathos to outright goofy "Jerry Lewis" comedy.  The actor Karen Mok is a good sport wearing disfiguring facial makeup and the climatic cook off even drags in some heavenly intervention in the form of some Asian gods.  Overall mighty funny stuff. 

The film was written by  Stephen Chow Edmond Lo and Tsang Kan-cheong, the running time is 92 minutes.

2013 - JOURNEY TO THE WEST: CONQUERING THE DEMONS, has everything but the kitchen sink thrown in.

 This film by one of Hong Kong's best filmmakers is a large scale epic which combines horror, comedy, drama and fantasy.  In other words this is an extremely ambitious film from Stephen Chow.

The crazed story line has a Buddhist monk in training, Tang Sanzang battling all sorts of monsters(demons), while attempting to reach spiritual enlightenment.  Along the way he meets another demon hunter Duan who competes with him in the monster hunting business and after a while decides she is in love with him.

 

Only someone like Stephen Chow could mix all of these genres and come up with a very entertaining film which in some ways is almost one of it's kind.  The high voltage action scenes blend fairly well with the computer effects.  The comedy may get a little silly at times but it certainly doesn't affect the entertainment value of the film.

 

Stephen Chow, Derek Kwok, Xin Huo, Yun Wang, Fung Chih Chiang, Lu Zheng Yu, Lee Sheung Shing and Y.Y. Kong worked on the story and screenplay, the running time is 110 minutes.