Excellent, a Must See

An absolute waste of money

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is a must watch for all Stephen Chow fans and I highly recommend this for everyone that loves random comedy. The characters were compelling, the story was surprisingly not so predictable like thought from the beginning and the dialogues were well crafted. I really enjoyed this movie because it was very entertaining and there were so many new ways of making me laugh which was great.The movie is about a noble scholar who is not pleased with his gambling wives, because they play majhong all day. Stephen Chow's character in this movie can paint, sing and write poems. Then later he and his scholar friends sees this girl whose beauty outshines all other girls near her and then the Scholars try to disguise themselves just to get near her in weird but funny ways. The girl comes from a rival family which hates his family. So he tries to find a way inside to approach her without being noticed. But there is much more than just romance and comedy, so I highly recommend this hilarious movie to everyone. The movie wasn't as slow as I thought. Stephen Chow is just pure awesome in his genius way of making his audience laugh out loud.

To call Stephen Chow the Jim Carrey of Asia, would be an understatement. His shows never fail to make me laugh, especially because of the means he use to try and get the girl he likes.Tang Bohu, one of the 4 great scholars, is the envy of many men. He has 8 beautiful wives, he has talent, but unknown to others, he does not have happiness, because his wives do not understand him.One day, he meets Qiuxiang (played by Gong Li), a maid to Madam Wah (who unknown to him, is actually his father's ex-girlfriend; well-played by Cheng Pei Pei), and is so smitten by her. He disguises himself as Wah An, an orphan from a rural village and comes out with a story that his family was killed by Tang Bohu, so that he can enter the house.Qiuxiang is in love with Tang Bohu's poetry and hopes to meet the man himself, not knowing that the man himself, is in the same house as her.Gong Li looks beautiful as ever in her role as Qiuxiang. Stephen Chow makes me laugh with his witty remarks during the poetry competitions as the Wah household faces off with King Ning. Add the comedic talent of Yuen King-Tan who plays the very horny Shek Lau, Pak-cheung Chan, who plays the rather unreliable friend, Chuck Chi-Shan, and you are pretty much guaranteed comedy at its best! Will Bohu get Qiuxiang? Will the Wah household defeat King Ning's man, Evil Scholar? Will Bohu restore honor to his father's weapon, the steel spear? Watch and find out?

One of the funniest slapstick comedies out there, this movie rivals Royal Tramp and Tricky Brains in its comedic value. This movie absolutely requires knowledge of Chinese history, especially of the main character, Tong Bak Fu. It also requires knowledge of Hong Kong popular culture from the 50's to the 90's. Indeed, this movie references everything that is Chinese, from Tong Bak Fu's scholar friends to the Cantonese dub of Dragonball Z, and everything in between. Of course, without such complete knowledge, what is supposed to be funny is not even mildly amusing, as the comedic element in scenes are often subtle or obscure or both.Tong Bak Fu is a malcontent scholar of great renown who has eight wives. Somehow, his wives have come to take complete control his life, and he finds himself constantly at their mercy, who do nothing but gamble with each other. His friends too, have become nothing more than an annoyance. Desiring romance, he ventures out to seek true love--and finds himself fallen in love with a servant of a wealthy household. Back in those days, servants, though often socially lower than family, were considered a part of the household and subject to the jurisdiction of the family, especially--in this case--the matriarch. Tong Bak Fu must disguise himself as a peasant and sell his services to the family in order to woo the girl and eventually marry her. With the help of a manservant, he gets in and finally learns the name of the girl--Chou Herng. That of course, is where everything goes wrong.Stop now if you cannot identify the three places that are blatantly set up for comedy in the above narrative. Now, I don't mean that my rather apathetic introduction is funny in and of itself, but rather that at least three of the things I've described have the potential to develop into a very funny scene. If you can find all three places exhibiting the potential for comedy this movie will be absolutely hilarious. If you can find two, this movie might be pretty funny, but nothing special. If you can find one, don't expect too much. If you cannot find any, then move along--this movie isn't for you.

This is a typical Stephen Chow's commedy. Inside you see all the necessary elements: jokes, love, kungfu. Well, the story is not new. This is a traditional Hong Kong/Chinese story, but the reproduction in this new style has been quite successful. I must admit that this movie has given me one and a half-hour of continuous laughing. However, this is a very "Hong-Kong-ish" movie. I think only Hong Kongese can appreciate its jokes. Because of difference in culture and inability of translating exactly, non-HongKongese may find the movie stupid and uninteresting. If only Hong Kong people rated this title, I'm sure the rating would be higher.