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Kung Fu Hustle
Sony Pictures Classics


8.8

based on 38 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 100 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for sequences of strong stylized action and violence

Starring Stephen Chow, Wah Yuen, Qiu Yuen, Siu Lung Leung, Dong Zhi Hua, Kwok Kuen Chan, Chiu Chi Ling, and Leung Siu Lung

Set amid the chaos of pre-revolutionary China, small time thief, Sing (Chow), aspires to be one of the sophisticated and ruthless Axe Gang whose underworld activities overshadow the city. (Sony)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Comedy \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Tsang Kan Cheong Stephen Chow Xin Huo Chan Man Keung
DIRECTED BY:	Stephen Chow
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: August 9, 2005 Theatrical: April 8, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	95 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	China / Hong Kong
LANGUAGE(S):	Cantonese / Mandarin (with English subtitles)

Original title "Gong Fu"; Best Action Choreography, Best Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound Effects, Best Supporting Actor (Wah Yuen) and Best Visual Effects, 2005 Hong Kong Film Awards

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Film Threat Phil Hall

Kung Fu Hustle is something you rarely encounter in theaters: a genuinely original comedy.

100

The Hollywood Reporter Andrew Sun

With a delirious mix of the sublime and the silly, Hong Kong comedy king Stephen Chow Sing-chi has taken the kung fu comedy genre to new heights of chop-socky hilarity.

100

LA Weekly David Chute

The movie refers glancingly to dozens of Hollywood classics, from "West Side Story" to "City Lights," but at heart it is a debt of honor richly paid by Stephen Chow to his martial-arts forebears and to the traditions that shaped his sensibility. His gong fu is the best.

100

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Chow's savagely funny cinematic love letter places Hong Kong legends Yuen Wah, Leung Siu Lung and former Bond girl Yuen Qiu in well-cast pivotal parts, establishing Kung Fu Hustle not only as an endearing homage to a genre's history, but an astonishing piece of cinema in its own right.

100

Time Richard Corliss

Moviemaking doesn't get much smarter, funnier, handsomer, better than this.

100

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It's a short, sharp, shock to the cinematic system that's virtually impossible to dislike, and if you don't leave the theatre grinning your face off, then buddy, movies just aren't for you.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

All of Kung Fu Hustle is like that: You don't just watch it, you ride with it, laughing all the way.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's a visual feast that only a crack director could provide, and it's mounted within a story and setting that, played utterly straight, might still have made a good movie.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

Brilliantly choreographed and shot, Kung Fu Hustle is often grisly, visually spectacular and unabashedly silly, sometimes all at once.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Gut-Bustingly funny moves are pretty rare, so hustle over to Kung Fu Hustle, actor-director Ste phen Chow's exhilaratingly hilarious and affectionate send-up of Hong Kong action flicks.

Premiere Aaron Hillis

Guaranteed to deliver more innovative eye candy and smarter fun-per-second than most of this summer's fare, and that one-two punch ought to knock you off your seat.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Raymond Wong, who has become Chow's favorite composer, iced this cake with music that sounds like Beethoven, Henry Mancini's jazz and all the James Bond themes run together in a blender.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

In a farce like this, where the story is merely a string of martial-arts movie cliches lined up to be parodied, that has its own rewards.

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

The inspiration appears to be equal parts "Looney Tunes" and Capcom video games like "Street Fighter II." All the energy that was missing from the recent "Mask" sequel is here, and then some.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It won't be long before you feel the compulsion to watch again. There is too much to appreciate in one sitting.

Newsweek David Ansen

Defies all laws of gravity in its pursuit of thrills and laughs—and it's so disarmingly eager to please that only a stone-faced kung fu purist could object.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

Its crowd-pleasing, action-packed brand of frenetic parody promises to spread Chow's mythos even further.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Chow manages to have his cake and eat it too: Kung Fu Hustle is a kung fu parody that's also a terrific kung fu movie.

New York Magazine Ken Tucker

Half-amazing, half-ridiculous, thoroughly exhilarating.

Empire Simon Crook

Kung Fu Hustle pummels "The Matrix" trilogy into a puddle.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Viewers will discover that the film has something to offer nearly everyone, whether they are a novice or a black belt in kung fu cinema.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Does the plot spin out of control? You bet. But dumb fun this smart is a gift.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Kung Fu Hustle is to "House of Flying Daggers" what "Blazing Saddles" is to "Unforgiven."

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Like a meal prepared by an extreme chef, ''Hustle" is more than a bit of a mess. It still tastes like nothing you've ever had before.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is the kind of movie where you laugh occasionally and have a silly grin most of the rest of the time.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

Vivid and madcap but fails to connect on any emotional level.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

A celebration of Hong Kong action cinema that mocks gravity, both emotional and physical.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Hustle's approach to a simple good-vs.-evil plot is eccentrically exuberant.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

For all its excitement Kung Fu Hustle is mostly a marvel of comedic ingenuity and mile-a-minute creativity run wild. You've never seen anything like it.

Chicago Reader Kevin B. Lee

Chow's newfound patience and attentiveness to stasis, tinged with nostalgia, are promising indications of where he's taking his art as he attempts to influence the commercial cinema that's long influenced him.

Slate David Edelstein

At times, the picture evokes such stylized musicals as "The Band Wagon"; at others, it seems to whirr every kung-fu movie ever made into the most luscious action smoothie you'll ever imbibe.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

Chow depends way too much on jokey computer graphics that make the whole thing feel like a superhero comic, instead of athleticism or charisma or good storytelling, and that Kung Fu Hustle wears itself out long before it's over.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

For all its punches, kicks, whacks and thumps, the movie does not have much impact, and for all its affectionate nostalgia, it produces a strange kind of amnesia. It knocks the sense right out of your head, and its own as well.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The upside: Chow has energy and invention to burn. The downside: He doesn't know when he blisters his audience.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A giant leap forward in Stephen Chow's ongoing assault on Jackie Chan's status as reigning balletic clown-master of martial-arts mayhem, this extravagantly nutty crime comedy is a work of some kind of genius. Not everybody's kind of genius, to be sure.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The overly broad martial-arts comedy Kung Fu Hustle was obviously made with skill and affection for its many cinematic sources, yet I found the tone, timing and emotional involvement off by just enough to irritate rather than enchant.

Variety Derek Elley

Devoid of genuine inspiration or involving character development.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

For all its stylishness, verve and moments of visual poetry, the relentlessly punishing slapstick and overall cruel tone left me cold.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.8 (out of 10) based on 100 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eric R. gave it a9:
Hilarious absurdity and comedic timing. Like the Monty Python of Asian films.

Mark A. gave it a10:
What a breath of fresh air! An amazing movie; very well done. Those who voted 2 or so must have a boring sense of humour. Good funny films are not easy to make (and I'm a filmmaker myself!). Chow manages to pull this one off with sheer brilliance. Those who moan want miracles from movies. There's nothing wrong with this one; it's perfect. I enjoyed this one much more than the Matrix trilogy. The cigar lighting scene/catching fire was the funniest movie moment ever. What a gem. Thanks Stephen!

Emil gave it a9:
A great comedy if taken lightly. However, I saw this once in theaters and once on DVD. I give a 9 for the theater version. I give a 2 for the DVD version. It seems the subtitles were completely off from what I saw at the theaters, and took a lot away from the humor.

Riren gave it an8:
Disjointed and bizarre, this sets itself apart even from kung fu cinema. If you're used to American or European action movies, this is something completely new. Kung Fu Hustle survives on a comical strand, drawing inspiration from martial arts humor as well as old Looney Toons. Its insistence on empowering the weak, often making superhuman characters out of stereotypes like housewives or browbeaten husbands, is probably its best strength. Its sense of style, of constantly mingling cool (magical guitars, dropkicking mafia badguys through walls, classical or compelling music, etc.) with the deliberately uncool (old lady in hair curlers, assassin in his underwear, etc.) is something to behold. It's at least a half an hour too long, but it's such an over-the-top and oddball film that if you can let yourself go, this is a great way to kill an evening.

Mark S. gave it an8:
Great movie. I particularly don't know what in the world the NYT is talking about in their review.

Walter gave it a9:
It's fun and if taken lightly, it will grab you and let you in. It's a parody, so just let the ride take you and don't worry too much about deep meanings in this romp. Just enjoy the ride.

Katherine gave it a10:
This movie is wonderful. Absolutely adorable and funny; I loved it.

Kung Fu Hustle Sony Pictures Classics

Kung Fu Hustle
Sony Pictures Classics