Dan Mclellan

'KUNG POW' ISN'T FOR EVERYONE

DAN MCLELLAN

Originally published Friday, February 1, 2002

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "Surely they still aren't making films like 'Airplane' and 'The Naked Gun' today. That genre died after 'Spy Hard.' " To you I say: "Yes they are. And don't call me Shirley."

After dying off in the late '90s, these rapid-fire yuk-fests have started a small return to power, with "Not Another Teen Movie" and the "Scary Movies."

Steve Oederkerk, director of "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls," as the ads proudly proclaim, has offered up this affectionate and silly tribute to such classics as "The Five Deadly Venoms," "Return of the Five Deadly Venoms," "Enter the 36th Chamber of Shaolin" and, of course, "Mystery of Chess Boxing."

God help us, those are real movies.

"Enter the Fist" is a combination of new footage shot with Oederkerk and an old, cheesy Kung Fu movie with new dubbing. The plot concerns the chosen one (Oederkerk) and his quest for revenge against Master Pain (Some Kung Fu Dude), aka Betty.

What makes this decidedly dim protagonist the chosen one? Why, his tongue, of course! And so the movie continues with such gags and shenanigans for a light, breezy and thankfully short 80 minutes.

"Kung Pow" isn't a bad film by any means; it's funnier and less crude than "Scary Movie," but this is partly due to the fact that the film ends before it really irritates you.

Oederkerk is of the loud and shrill school of comedy. If a joke is funny once, why not repeat it five times? And if the audience doesn't laugh? Why, just say the joke louder.

Also, one must wonder what persuaded the director to parody a genre that has been dead and gone for a long, long time -- just for the record, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "The Matrix" aren't kung fu films.

I'd imagine most of today's teen-agers, the ideal audience, either haven't seen a kung fu film or are too hardcore to want to see one parodied. I could be wrong, but the box-office will tell for sure.

Still, the film packs a fair amount of entertaining scenes, and Oederkerk is a likable protagonist. "Enter the Fist" works best avoiding pop culture with a few exceptions. While the ridiculously obvious product placement for Taco Bell and Neosporin illicit laughs, the "Lion King" and "Matrix" parodies fall flat on their face.

Thankfully, these moments are kept to a minimum and are usually short.

The kung fu scenes are created with respect to the originals, and the "new actors" all kick butt convincingly. The special effects are (hopefully) intentionally cheap looking and add to the roguish charm of the film. "Toungey" (a small face that lives on Oederkerk's tongue) is cute and uses the technique the director has perfected with his bizarre "Thumb Wars" shorts.

"Kung Pow's" best asset is its good nature. Everyone appears to be having fun, and regardless of the quality of the humor it's hard to scoff on such a sniff at that. If you can't get yourself to smile at the sight of "Cow-Fu," that's not the film's fault. It wasn't made for you, and you weren't made for it.

"Kung Pow" is a reasonably acceptable way to spend an afternoon, but only if "Airplane" is sold out at Blockbuster.

Daniel McLellan is a freshman at Olympia High School.

'Kung Pow: Enter the Fist'

* *

- Rating: PG-13.

- Playing: Capital Mall Cinemas.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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