Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Cast
Stephen Chow .... Sing
Wah Yuen .... Landlord
Qiu Yuen .... Landlady
Kwok Kuen Chan .... Brother Sum
Hsiao Liang .... The Beast
Zhi Hua Dong .... Donut
Yu Xing .... Coolie
Chi Chung Lam .... Sing's Sidekick
Kai Man Tin .... Axe Gang Advisor
Kang Xi Jia .... Harpist No. 1
Hak On Fung .... Harpist No. 2
Directed, co-written by & starring Stephen Chow, Hustle is kinda like mixing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with ... well... I'm not entirely sure. It's wacky, offbeat stuff that's for sure, but I can't think of any particular director's work that is even close to being comparable. It's not Trey Parker & Matt Stone-style goofy. It's not the Farrelly Brothers' distinctive bathroom humour either. It's brilliantly wacky though, no doubt about it.
I have yet to see Chow's previous effort Shaolin Soccer, but after watching Hustle, I have a desire to have check that one out as well. If you remember all the ricockulously over the top 70s kung fu movies that you rented from the crappy neighbourhood video store when you were younger, drinking cheap beer that someone bootlegged for ya, laughing 'til you threw up, & then starting to drink again because you didn't know any better, well, Hustle is a much, much classier version of those movies. Pretty much an homage to them actually.
There are moments throughout the movie that will have you wincing at the sheer brutality of some of the martial arts depicted. Other scenes will have you hysterically laughing at the ludicrousness of the situations. The barely touched upon love story also has the possibility to warm your heart, though it feels a little bit out of place with the rest of the shenanigans.
There's not much more that I can think of to say about the brilliance of this movie, as I don't have an extensive background knowledge of anything more than the mainstream Hollywood kung fu movies released in the past few years. I do know what I like though, & I appreciate the irreverant genius that is this movie. So, to sum up, thoroughly enjoyable, & even though the romantic part felt a little tacked on, it gave the main character his heart, his touchstone for his future actions. Which means that it did serve a purpose after all, so there! 5 outta 5.