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Review : Kung Pow : Enter The Fist on DVD
This weekend BBQ and I watched one of our favorite movies ever, Kung Pow : Enter The Fist.
I freaking love this movie and I am not ashamed to admit it. This is a cult movie if I ever saw one and it was a bust at the box office that I attribute not being marketed correctly. This movie went over the heads of the dumb comedy audience but I would honestly say that this is the funniest movie since Airplane!
Now the idea of the movie was to take an 70s hong Kong action movie and totally re-write it and screw with the footage digitally. New footage is edited in with the original movie and comedic elements are mixed into the old 70s footage. Steve Oedekerk plays the lead role as "The Chosen One" and his head is digitally superimposed over the original actor. The entire movie was re-dubbed by a small group of actors and most of the dialog was improvised and gut busting funny. The concept of this movie is not unlike an old obscure Woody Allen movie called What's up Tiger Lilly?
The dialog has been recorded to not match or be even close to the original flick. No it is not an error they actually wanted it that way. In fact the new footage was recorded with the actors reading a totally separate but still funny script.
The comedy is more than just stupid potty humor but it is not going to make you think that deeply. It is timeless and side splitting.
The story is about a White guy who is born in ancient China who has a smiley face creature in his tounge. A martial art war lord who is protected by metal magical triangles on his chest is ordered to kill him. And that is just about where the normality and sanity ends.
It is ironic that the star of the movie is also one same one who killed it at the Box Office. Steve Oedekerk is hardly a household name and if any other Hollywood star made this movie it would have been huge. Even Sinbad and David Spade. But I would not change a damn thing.
This is one of the best comedy DVDs ever. It is crammed with tons of deleted screens that are really funny. Including a whole "Penis Fight" that was deleted to appease the MPAA. I see why they cut most of this stuff but it is still golden.
The commentary tracks is where this DVD really shines. There is the normal mix, then French and Spanish, than a director and actor commentary track, Then a strange track called "What they were really saying " track when they play the original Chinese dialog with the surreal English dialog that was to be dubbed over. Finally they round it out with the "Book on Tape" version that is read by a deep voiced professional actor reading the inane dialog as if it were a serious book on tape. Genius!
You are either going to love this flick or think it is the most un-funny stupid movie ever made.
I LIKE IT! I have some yellow liquid for your popcorn, and it is non-dairy. I need Gopher-Chucks!
Jake at September 4, 2003 
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Comments
I thought this movie was going to be the next best thing to sliced bread. I was really let down by how un-funny it was. I think this movie is like Signs. Some people think it's the best thing ever and others think it's crap. My vote is for [X] Crap.
Posted by: Dave at September 4, 2003 5:40 AM
I never saw Kung-Pow because the trailers made it look like crap. Now that it gets the Jake stamp o' approval I might have to check it out.
One cool thing that made me kind of want to see it was that the guy who did The Killer Bean ( http://www.jefflew.com/news.html ) worked on the fight scene with the cow.
Posted by: roXet at September 4, 2003 6:33 AM
you are a twisted man...such a twisted movie...i like that! :D
Posted by: lilly at September 4, 2003 6:51 AM
weeEEEEeee-oooooo, weeeEEEEE-oooooooo!
Like Dave, I wasn't a big fan either. It had its moments.
Posted by: Jeff at September 4, 2003 7:15 AM
Quoted from Jake:
"The story is about a White guy who is born in ancient China who has a smiley face creature in his tounge. A martial art war lord who is protected by metal magical triangles on his chest is ordered to kill him. And that is just about where the normality and sanity ends."
I want to know what kind of twisted, crazy world you live in, Jake, where any of the above (much less that which follows) is considered normal or sane?! ;)
Posted by: Jeff (The Chosen One) at September 4, 2003 7:23 AM
Heh, Jeff...I think Jake was being Ironic...
weeEEEEeee-oooooo, weeeEEEEE-oooooooo!
Gosh, I loved this film. It was a masterpiece of silliness and lowbrow/bizarre humor.
Posted by: pete at September 4, 2003 11:08 AM
Phew, I'm glad you're back to talking about video games and kung-fu movies, and not those weird "book" things.
Kung-Pow was better than I expected. That tongue thing gives me nightmares, though.
Posted by: Ken at September 4, 2003 11:46 AM
That movie is SOOO stupid, u can tell its dubbed and the voices r not even what theyr really saying! OMG!! That is SO!! STUPID!! It wasn't even funny if u wan 2 see a good movie watch Men in Black 2 its really really funny LOL!!!
Seriously I think there are a great many people who just didn't "get" the movie at all so they hate it. Just like Signs.
Posted by: BBQ at September 4, 2003 6:14 PM
Steve Odekerk is now the Executive Producer for the Jimmy Neutron cartoon on Nickelodeon.
Check it out, it's pretty funny.
Posted by: Mjcool at January 14, 2004 6:45 AM
"That movie is SOOO stupid, u can tell its dubbed and the voices r not even what theyr really saying!"
my god... it was a spoof of the old dubbed martial arts films... it was supposed to be like that
if anyone watched this film expecting it to be serious then of course they're not going to "get" it
This was one of the funniest films i have ever seen
Posted by: Scoob at October 7, 2005 8:58 AM
muy loko!
Posted by: XApasko at October 20, 2005 8:38 PM
You complete idiots...
This film is funny as hell... its supposed to look dubbed over, its an insane comedy
Watch it again fools.
Posted by: Monkey at September 28, 2006 6:56 AM
This movie was frikking funny.
I reccomend it all you bastards out there who want a f**king good laugh...
And go monkey... you tell those stuck up wnkas about the dubing
Lots of love, ur mum
Posted by: Anonymous at January 7, 2007 11:53 PM
" i need gopher chucks!"
like every funny movie you need to watch this with an open mind, heart and bladder...of course your not going to find it funny if your watching it with a bad attitude like..woah this suck..your just going to dwell on the suckiness insted of seeing how funny this movie can be..i suggest all those people who dont enjoy this movie because they are 'so above it' should watch it with their heads pulled out of their rear-ends!!
much love <3 Elyse xox
Posted by: Ehlyse at January 21, 2007 4:09 PM
this movie is absolute brilliance!!! funniest on the planet
Posted by: John Othan at April 20, 2007 2:28 PM
