God of Cookery (1997)

Hilarious. Need I say more?

Me and my friends stumbled upon this movie, and watched it without really knowing anything about it. We were all pleasantly surprised to discover that it is one of the most hilarious movies ever written. Many people say you have to understand Chinese culture to understand this movie, but I don't know much about Chinese culture and still found myself laughing throughout the enitre movie. While I have to admit, the subtitles aren't always up to par (they repeatedly use the word "satin" instead of "Satan" and there was one sentence that was so bad I had no clue what it was supposed to mean), but that doesn't take away from the glory that is this movie! If you want to see a really fun spoof that actually will make you laugh out loud, I highly recommend this! October 9, 2008

Sorrowful Rice

Wow!
A uniquely funny and poignant film.
So unique that I cannot classify it.
Both a comedy and a tragedy
and so much more.
And amazingly beautiful to look at.
I would have appreciated it more,
if that is possible,
had I understood more of Chinese
philosophy and culture.

The English subtitles,
which were necessary for me,
were very poorly done.
I have no doubt that the dialog
is actually far superior than
the subtitles show unless the
only mistakes were spelling
and grammar which I doubt.
A film of this quality,
a true classic, deserves to
be translated well for
English readers.


October 2, 2008

Very funny show

I got this movie based on a reccomendation by Alton Brown and I'm glad I did. Steven Chaiu is one of the funniest film makers coming out of China right now. It does contain a bit of cultural humor so if you don't know much about Chinese culture you might not get a lot of it. It's a bit silly by American standards. All this aside I watch this over and over again. Very funny movie! May 13, 2008

Bouncing shrimp balls

Stephen Chow made his main American breakout with Kung Fu Hustle, another good film, but prior to that he had a long career in cinema. God of Cookery is hillarious in a simlar way as Kung Fu Hustle, but it has the bizzare cutness that it didnt which Chow made a name on. Think of an Iron Chef episode and mix that with Shaolin Socccer style fighting (another golden Chow Gem) and you have Cookery. it is a Rags to riches type story as many Chow films are, but it isnt the typical one. A tongue in cheek movie with good dialogue and an amusing love interest this film is good even on sequential viewings. I was introduced to this about 5 years ago or more (less? been a while) and I still watch it on occasion and laugh. It is ok for the kids too though there is some "harsh language" in terms of swearing but not in too bad of a way. Go ahead and get it, you know you want too. February 24, 2008

Not one of Stephen Chow's best, but far from being his worst

Stephen Chow is known as the God of Cookery, but he thinks far too highly of himself. He treats all of the people around him badly and ends up getting tricked and has his title of God of Cookery taken away. He meets an ugly woman (Karen Mok) who is a master chef and she has a special rubbery beef ball that tastes like food the Gods would eat. Stephen Chow teams up with her so they can get rich selling this special beef ball. Once he is a well known chef again Chow looks to take back his title of God of Cookery.

This movie is hilarious no doubt, but my main problem is that they use the same formula as a lot of other Stephen Chow movies. He starts out rich, goes broke, and then has to fight his way back to the top. It is easy to follow, but it lacks originality. But, the cooking part is original. I got very very hungry while watching. Usually they save the best for last in Stephen Chow movies, but this movie is pretty equal all the way through. They never stop with the jokes. I take points off because I didn't like the ending too much, but it is still a lot of fun.

My favorite thing about the movie is Karen Mok. She shows that she is a fearless actress by getting uglied up for this role. She gives an amazing performance. I have never said this in a Stephen Chow review before, but Chow gets upstaged.

3/5
October 11, 2007

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