Shaolin Soccer
dir. Stephen Chow
2001

:star::star::star::star::halfstar:

My friends all know that I'm really into Asian Cinema, so a lot of people were asking me if I knew anything about Kung Fu Hustle. Sadly all I knew, other than the fact that Alexis took Tripp to the US premiere instead of me, is that the film is directed by action/comedy director/star Stephen Chow.

Now I've seen A Chinese Odyssey 1 & 2, in which Chow plays the Monkey King, but until today, the only film I'd seen that was directed by Stephen Chow was God of Cookery, which is pretty damn funny. For some reason though, it seems like everybody except me had seen Shaolin Soccer, and people actually gasped in shock whenever I told them I had not seen it.

Well gasp no more because Sam and I just watched the Special Edition Shaolin Soccer DVD I'd recently acquired (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

The film was exactly what I'd expected so it didn't blow my mind or anything, but it's really really good stuff. I laughed so hard I cried when Team Evil's goalie gets his clothes blown off and his naked-ass gets tossed like a rag doll.

I really wish I had time to go see Kung Fu Hustle in the theater cuz it looks even better than Shaolin Soccer.

UPDATE: I missed it in the theater, but I've seen Kung Fu Hustle several times on video.