God of Cookery

Rating:
Summary: Stephen Chow's best work!
Review: If you're looking for a film which can teach you how to cook delicious Chinese dishes, you may be disappointed after watching "The God of Cookery". On the contrary, if you want to have fun, laughing throughout a film, feeling tounched by the romantic love story and witnessing a change of an arrogant business man to a true chef, don't miss this great film!

I appreciate the rhythm of this film very much. It's fast and smooth as well as stylish. I've noticed that it only spent about half an a hour to clearly show how Chow's characteristic is, and how successful he was before getting bankruptcy. The sequences of the motion in the first half hour is unforgettable to me.

Besides the great performance of Chow, Karen (Sister Turkey) was outstanding as well. Her acting was extremely exaggerate, but this was really funny.

One demerit of this film was the ending, it was really strange and hard to accept. But anyway, it carries some meaningful messages which can compensate somewhat.

Overall, I highly recommend it to everyone. No matter you can understand Cantonese or not, see it! If you're going to see just one Chow's movie, make sure that you see this one.

Rating:
Summary: Quintessential Chinese Humour
Review: Listen up, this movie is fantastic, it encapsulates the bizarre chinese psyche and their love of the downright strange. Admittedly I understand Cantonese and some of the translation is dodgy, but this shouldn't stop you rushing out and buying this.

Contrary to what has been written before, this isn't a parody of Chow Yun Fat's 'God Of Gamblers' but rather the trilogy of 'Saints of Gamblers' films (itself a paroday of God of Gamblers, yes complicated but bare with me), which, you've guessed it, stars Stephen Chow too. These are in the same vein and I would encourage anyone with an open mind to watch these too, you won't be dissapointed.

Rating:
Summary: heh heh...
Review: okay, lets start with this: the movie is a comedy.
Have you seen Iron monkey? Think something along those lines. cheezy dialogue, improbable martial arts stunts, and a completely ridiculous plot. Including a musical segment. If you aren't into b-movies, this isn't for you. But I promise, it is absolutely hysterical. Watch it with friends, and you won't stop laughing.

Rating:
Summary: heh heh...
Review: okay, lets start with this: the movie is a comedy.
Have you seen Iron monkey? Think something along those lines. cheezy dialogue, improbable martial arts stunts, and a completely ridiculous plot. Including a musical segment. If you aren't into b-movies, this isn't for you. But I promise, it is absolutely hysterical. Watch it with friends, and you won't stop laughing.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Chow Is My Hero
Review: Perhaps I've seen to much Jackie Chan to be able to properly appreciate this movie, but I found myself sitting on my couch at the end of the movie wondering what had just happened. "God of Cookery" is certainly a movie that tries hard to please its audience, but somewhere along the line (I think maybe at about an hour into the movie) it simply abandons its plot and moves into the realm of the incredibly bizarre. It certainly means well, but it has no idea what to do with itself.

"God of Cookery" is apparently a parody of sorts of the Chow-Yun Fat classic "God of Gamblers". Unfortunately, I haven't seen "God of Gamblers", so I can't give you a comparison as to how effective the parody is. However, in its own right, I don't know how well it stands.

Certain parts of the movie have a definite zany flair that make you like them in spite of what you think of the movie. The whole "West Side Story" sequence involving two local gangs fighting over control of one restaurant's recipes is a very cute sequence that had me smiling for days afterward. Even parts in the monastery sequences where Stephen Chow's character is learning cooking skills are funny enough to stand on their own merit. However, other parts - especially the final battle/cooking sequence - simply go too far around the bend for me to be able to appreciate them - or even laugh.

None of this is helped in the movie by the progressively deteriorating English grammar in the subtitles, either. I try not to be picky about typos or small problems in grammar - after all, Cantonese to English is by all accounts a really tough translation - but there were entire scenes that I could not understand due to the grammatical confusion. By the end of the movie, practically every sentence was confusing.

All in all, I find myself not hating this movie. When movies try as hard as this one did to get you to like it, it's hard to hate them. However, I was disappointed by it. I really wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Perhaps I just don't have the hang of proper Hong Kong comedy, but I found myself feeling puzzled when others were laughing hysterically. So, in retrospect, I would say that if you've heard good things about "God of Cookery" and are looking for a mindless Hong Kong action comedy then go for it. Just be warned, though, that it may not necessarily be what you're looking for.

Rating:
Summary: A Movie Not In Control Of Its Plot...
Review: Perhaps I've seen to much Jackie Chan to be able to properly appreciate this movie, but I found myself sitting on my couch at the end of the movie wondering what had just happened. "God of Cookery" is certainly a movie that tries hard to please its audience, but somewhere along the line (I think maybe at about an hour into the movie) it simply abandons its plot and moves into the realm of the incredibly bizarre. It certainly means well, but it has no idea what to do with itself.

"God of Cookery" is apparently a parody of sorts of the Chow-Yun Fat classic "God of Gamblers". Unfortunately, I haven't seen "God of Gamblers", so I can't give you a comparison as to how effective the parody is. However, in its own right, I don't know how well it stands.

Certain parts of the movie have a definite zany flair that make you like them in spite of what you think of the movie. The whole "West Side Story" sequence involving two local gangs fighting over control of one restaurant's recipes is a very cute sequence that had me smiling for days afterward. Even parts in the monastery sequences where Stephen Chow's character is learning cooking skills are funny enough to stand on their own merit. However, other parts - especially the final battle/cooking sequence - simply go too far around the bend for me to be able to appreciate them - or even laugh.

None of this is helped in the movie by the progressively deteriorating English grammar in the subtitles, either. I try not to be picky about typos or small problems in grammar - after all, Cantonese to English is by all accounts a really tough translation - but there were entire scenes that I could not understand due to the grammatical confusion. By the end of the movie, practically every sentence was confusing.

All in all, I find myself not hating this movie. When movies try as hard as this one did to get you to like it, it's hard to hate them. However, I was disappointed by it. I really wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Perhaps I just don't have the hang of proper Hong Kong comedy, but I found myself feeling puzzled when others were laughing hysterically. So, in retrospect, I would say that if you've heard good things about "God of Cookery" and are looking for a mindless Hong Kong action comedy then go for it. Just be warned, though, that it may not necessarily be what you're looking for.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely hysterical.
Review: This film is laugh-out-loud material throughout. For those familiar with Hong Kong cinema, you'll get an extra kick out of the razor-sharp spoofs of various genre by Stephen Chow, but even if this is your first-ever HK film you'll find it non-stop laughs.

Chow plays the so-called "God of Cookery", a media hype creation who is a legend in his own mind, but not necessarily the kitchen. When he involves himself in a shady business deal, he is publically shamed and loses all of his wealth and fame. After meeting up with the tough-as-nails Sister Turkey, a street food vendor (played to the hilt by Karen Mok), he seeks to regain his fame and fortune... but still hasn't quite learned his lesson yet - that takes a bit more plot and dozens more jokes.

Highly recommended! I rate it a 10 out of 10.

Rating:
Summary: Great HK comedy-
Review: This movie is hilarious. It's a relatively narrow spoof of HK movies such as God of Gamblers, which itself is a spoof of the HK gambling movie genre. So many western viewers may not see the humor, and find this exercise strange and pointless. OTOH, those with at least some sensibility of Asian pop movies (including martial arts flicks like Crouching Tiger) should like it just fine. Besides, Stephen Chow is the king of HK cinema. So anyone purporting to like HK films needs to see at least a couple of Stephen Chow movies.

Oh yeah, it's also a sendup of the Japanese cooking game-show Iron Chef, which is itself pretty self-consciously over-the-top. So that this movie would seem somewhat extreme is not surprising.

The plot follows the basic Stephen Chow template, which is very formulaic yet somehow satisfies every time. Lovable loser/ underdog Stephen Chow rises to beat the bad guy and win the girl. I guess in this case, it's more like top guy falls down, then rises to beat the bad guy...but you get my point. Anyhow, it works really well for him so I wouldn't change a thing. His movies are filled with really wacky cornball humor, yet have have a lot of heart at the same time (by heart I mean in a Rocky 1 sorta way, not Steel Magnolias.)

The most recent reviewer before me mentioned not really "getting" this movie. I can sympathize, yet at the same time I thought the movie was...yes...LOL funny!

Rating:
Summary: Drunken Master meets Yan Can Cook
Review: What a wonderful movie--one that's very conscious of its own environment and genre. Despite genre limitations, "God of Cookery" is refreshing and quite unpredictable. Even the grammatical lapses and convoluted English subtitles all contribute to an enjoyment of a subtitled film. This is better than being dubbed.

Watching it, there's never a dull moment. Most of all, the meticulous attention to details was quite impressive, and so was the cinematography.

Rating:
Summary: I pee'd my pants.
Review: Wow! God of Cookery is one of the funniest flick I have ever seen. The tempo of the movie, the insanely clever dialogues, and the razor sharp parodies all add up to a great movie experience. Even though my wife does not speak Chinese, she thought it was wonderful. If you know Cantonese or something about Hong Kong cultural history, THIS IS IT! You will pick up subtle references that will bring back Hong Kong circa late 80's/early 90's.

A Chinese movie that is finally willing to make fun of itself. No genre is safe: God of Cookery pokes fun at old gangster flicks, gambling flicks, the silly montages, Hong Kong soup operas, Iron Chef, martial art movies, politics, class, food, food, food...