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Chow
Sing Chi (Stephen Chow) is a timid delivery boy in love with Christy
Chung,who, he learns, hates cowards. With the aid of con man Ng
Man Tat, he learns how to be a Superhero, and, clad in a Garfield
mask, he saves the lovely Chung from a masher. Unfortunately, a
Japanese karate expert takes the credit, and Chow must challenge
him to hand-to-hand combat in order to win back the girl.
I was a bit of a late starter when it came to Chow's films as this
was the first one I saw, but when it ended I wanted to see more.
When watching this film from a Westerners point of view it may help,
as with the majority of Chow's films, that the audience have a basic
knowledge of Hong Kong pop-culture - One joke centres on the rivalry
between fans of the pop singers Leon Lai and Jacky Cheung (who has
a cameo). This is one of those typical Hong Kong films where things
go from bad to worse for the main character. One particular scene
has Chow queue up to buy Chung a ticket for Jacky Cheung's concert.
After queuing all night an old woman asks him if he would mind her
going in front. He lets her and she promptly buys all the tickets
and begins selling them to the rest of the crowd for twice the price!
Chow decides to pay the woman the money but before he can be given
a ticket the woman is carried away by the police!
This is by far the best Chow film I have seen as it follows all
the conventions of his other films (Chow playing a hapless victim
of unrequited love) and surrounds them with an array of fast paced
visual gags. The only small criticisms I would have are the slow
mid section and the end fight scene which goes on far too long (although
it does contain some amazing acrobatic feats - even for a Hong Kong
film!) If you want to sample the madcap world of Chow Sing Chi then
this is the film to start with!
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