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'Kung Pow' so bad, it's almost good
Steve Oedekerk stars in and directed 'Kung Pow: Enter the Fist'
Peter Iovino, 20th Century Fox
His name is Master Pain.
Midway through "Kung Pow: Enter the Fist," Pain says he wants to be called Betty. Master Betty to you. But never, never call him Sally. In the film's funniest moment, someone forgets.
Woody Allen fans may recall "What's Up, Tiger Lily?," a 1966 release he cobbled from a horrible, low-budget 1964 Japanese secret agent thriller. He recut the original and dubbed in nonsensical dialogue about the quest for an egg salad recipe.
That's the thrust of "Kung Pow."
Steve Oedekerk, the writer-director of "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" and the writer of "Patch Adams," acquired the rights to an obscure 1976 Chinese martial arts film known variously in North America as "Savage Killers" and "Tiger and Crane Fists."
He shot new footage, mainly of himself, for digital insertion into the original. With the exception of Jennifer Tung, who acts and dubs the character of Whoa herself, all of the voices are dubbed by Oedekerk, who also wrote, produced, directed and plays the leading role.
The prologue shows his character, The Chosen One, to be a karate-kicking newborn whose parents are slain by Master Pain. Y'know - Betty.
As an adult, The Chosen One performs impossible feats to warm up for the climactic kickathon.
Chosen, who calls his serpentine tongue Tonguey, even takes on the Karate Cow, which makes a complete and udder fool of itself.
As director, Oedekerk opts for zoom shots, a technique used heavily in Asian films made with camera dolly tracks. (A familiarity with imported '70s Chinese chop-socky films, which enjoyed a brief vogue in the States, helps.)
As leading man, he fields lines such as, "We will meet again many times — in the sequel."
Characters repeat what the narration has just explained, using the same words.
The feature-long joke is that everyone's lines are dubbed out of sync, including Chosen's and a dog's barking.
None of this is nearly as funny as it's meant to be, partly because every joke is done to death. The concept is amusing, but it doesn't bear stretching to more than 80 minutes. But then, nothing shorter would be released theatrically.
"Kung Pow" is so deliberately bad that compared to a lot of what's out there it's - not so bad.
| 'Kung Pow: Enter the Fist' |
Director: Steve Oedekerk
Stars: Steve Oedekerk, Jennifer Tung, Leo Lee
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for comic violence, crude and sexual humor
