A Magical Martial Romp

By RICHARD CORLISS

In the 1990s, when Jackie Chan and Jet Li were the hot international news out of Hong Kong, another actor was the colony's No. 1 box-office draw. Stephen Chow's raucous comedies tickled the locals no end, but since his humor was largely verbal (a nonsense patter known as "mo-lei-tau"), few were betting that he could become a star in the West. Chow took the bet and made two action comedies--Shaolin Soccer (2001) and Kung Fu Hustle (2004)--that were huge pan-Asian hits and proved him an expert director as well as an engaging joker. With Hustle's release on 2,000 U.S. screens this week, Americans get to see what's so funny about Chow. The laugh's on them for not noticing him before.

In the 1940s of Chow's teeming fantasy, Shanghai is terrorized by the Axe Gang, a thug team as dapper as they are vicious: they don black suits and top hats, and rumba to a rumble. Only one area, Pig Sty Alley, is temporarily immune to their predations--in part because the neighborhood is so poor, in part because all the residents, from the baker and the tailor to the kids and seniors, are skilled in martial arts. The Landlady (Yuen Qiu), spuming belligerence, can suck a cigarette to cinders in one deep breath, and has a lion's roar scream that rattles windows a continent away. Into the alley wanders Sing (Chow), a loser punk who is desperate to be an Axe man. But destiny has another, redemptive scenario in store. This accident-prone scoundrel has the makings of a natural-born kung fu genius--just the fellow to do battle against that legendary killer the Beast (Leung Siu-lung).

Chow, 42, seems to have been preparing for Kung Fu Hustle all his life. As a boy mesmerized by Bruce Lee films, he studied kung fu techniques. In his first TV job, as host of the daytime show Space Shuttle 430, he learned how to amuse kids with sly jokes and an impudent eloquence in body language. He became a film star as the little guy with false bravado who lucks into hero status. That's the formula here, but this time Chow doesn't take center stage until the last half an hour. Instead he uses his old comic style--mixing deadpan delivery with wild visual gags--to create an elegant directorial approach.

How so? The comedy is Buster Keaton-- ish in its precision timing. Chow's swooping camera is as nimble, and as respectful of Hong Kong film tradition, as the veteran actors he has assembled. The film merrily flouts the laws of time and physics. Teeth fly upward in slo-mo; then a Road Runner--style chase zips by in superspeedy-mo. The Pig Sty denizens have the resilience of Warner Bros. cartoon characters: lips, throats, bosoms expand to gargantuan size, then snap back. Punctuating the mayhem are sound effects (mooing, clucking, cat mewls, toad croaks) worthy of a Spike Jones symphony.

If you're just looking for a lot of action and a little heart, Hustle has that too, courtesy of stunt director Yuen Wo-ping (The Matrix, Kill Bill), and a subplot that reunites Sing with the love of his youth. And watch for the sly homages to Western action films. Moviemaking doesn't get much smarter, funnier, handsomer, better than this. --By Richard Corliss