Kung Phooey! (2003) User Reviews (23)

For those who get a kick out of lampooning the martial arts genre

[Lister_2525 · 6/10 · 23 June 2005]

Kung Phooey is for anyone who has deliberately forced themselves to watch every eastern and western martial arts chop-socky schlock flick known to man, although only a few of these genre fans will truly appreciate where KP is coming from (and ultimately going to). As bad as this film is to any sensible movie critic, the first few minutes alone will have you spurting out your favourite beverage through your nose - the intro recreates the "Kung Fu sanddune walkabout" Zucker-style with many of those bizarrely unrelated visual tidbits to keep you guessing every few seconds. The rest of this film however takes itself about as seriously as a secondary school stage play and is probably just about as interesting, at least on the surface. The seemingly $2.50 budget does not give one much expectation for world-class fight choreography or acting for that matter, but if you are willing to forgo these "small graces" then there are many mildly amusing filmic, cultural and (the all-important) stereotypical send ups to be savoured here. Basically, Kung Phooey is the martial arts spoof home-movie that you and your mates have always wanted to make but were truly afraid to see through to fruition.

As far as sustaining this one-joke-wonder into a 90 minute foray it inevitably falls short of the mark, well below that of the joke-per-minute classics like Flying High (er, Airplane). Instead, the filmmakers decided that if they couldn't be overtly hilarious, then they should at least try and be clever about the self-contained universe that all martial arts films seem to live in. The humour is thence derived from the characters often using real-world logic to dismantle their own movie-world actions and motivations that occur around them (and vice versa if that's possible). If you can, grab the DVD to watch the making-of featurette which shows all the heavenly glory of Z-budget film-making as well as the fun you can have when you really put your mind to it (you can't make a dream come true unless you have a dream). The deleted scenes also go further into a couple of other characters who should have had equal screen time with the Muscles from Brussels when he finally gets his comeuppance in the most painful way imaginable. And of course, don't forget the outtakes! If you have watched (but not necessarily enjoyed) Kung Pow: Enter The Fist for its unique take on this undervalued film genre, who knows if you will get into Kung Phooey or not ... maybe having a bottle of the cheapest booze on hand will help. But one thing is almost certain with this movie ... it will not have a sequel!

Only for martial art movie fans

[Karen-44 · 6/10 · 22 August 2005]

I practice martial arts (Ok, I practice - I didn't say I was good!). This movie was funnier than I expected, and is mercifully short(only 87 minutes). It doesn't take itself seriously - there are scenes where characters discuss being characters. The plot is whisper-thin, but who watches these things for the plot? Having said that, I still laughed out loud in several spots, and the martial arts scenes were quite good (and legit. Some of these were taken seriously or at least lovingly). The movie did a great job spoofing the genre - but if you don't like martial arts films, you just won't appreciate this film.

Basically, the level of humor is broad. If you liked Hot Shots Part Deux, you'd probably enjoy this movie.

the film this ought to have been

[winner55 · 6/10 · 3 September 2007]

This is an amusing film, and I have seen it twice and am willing to see it again; but I can't recommend it.

The film is an attempt to develop a type of absurdist, parodic comedy made famous by the Zucker-Abrams-Proft team ("Airplane!") within the context of the martial arts genre. There are indeed funny bits throughout the film - but unfortunately they're just not funny enough.

The obvious on-screen reason for this is pacing - it's not a slow or boring film; but if some reviewers express that opinion, it's because there's a flaw here that is even worse, for comedy - the timing of the gags is frequently way off. In the title sequence, for instance, we see the protagonist walking across a sand-dune ala Kane in "Kung Fu"; gags intervene twice, once with a toy dune-buggy zipping by from out of nowhere, the second time a woman in a bikini dives for a volleyball save. The dune-buggy shows up too late by about two comic beats (it should nearly clip the heel of the protagonist, who in the actual film has almost already walked off screen). The volleyball babe shows up about a beat too early - SHE nearly clips the protagonist's heel (when she should be behind him by at least two steps).

The primary behind-camera reason for such mistakes is money; this is a really low budget film, and it's clear that they could only afford one take for most scenes. That's actually very hard to do right, and requires either actors who have their lines and staging down pat, or a really inventive director who can waltz the camera around the actors to gloss over any of their defects, and who can work wonders in an editing room. This film has neither of those counter-balancing accessories. So when a scene goes flat, we're stuck with it.

So, while a lot of this movie brings a smile to my face, I can't say I actually laughed out-loud, and it's clear director Fong wants me to. Hopefully, when Fong gets the budget he needs, he can make the film this ought to have been.

Ethnic humor for Asians

[kbyerly · 13 March 2003]

Despite the title, Kung Phooey! is really not so much a spoof targeting kung-fu movies as it is a spoof on cultural stereotypes of Asian Americans, particularly Asian-American males. It does take shots at the kung-fu film genre, but it is limited by its budget, and the action scenes, while well-executed considering the limitations, are few and far between. While Kung Phooey! hits a few of the obvious bases in its parodies of martial-arts films, it mostly spoofs them in ways that purposefully examine how they inform popular conceptions of Asians. While the film seeks to hide its social satire within its media/pop culture parodies, its social satire is far too unsubtle to stay below the surface. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since spoofs like this aren't about subtlety anyway, and this cultural perspective is the strongest thing Kung Phooey! has going for it. Besides, it's nice to see a film that has a message of ethnic pride but doesn't use it as an excuse to get overly serious and self-important--and parody is the perfect genre for achieving this. The message is made quite clear, but it never hits you over the head in that obnoxious, self-righteous kind of way.

As a kung-fu spoof, the film is a bit lacking, but taken as a satirical response to media portrayals of Asian Americans, it's much stronger. Some jokes play better than others, but overall, it's a satisfying ride--especially for Asian-American audiences who have been thinking these things for a long time, and can now see them acknowledged on screen.

An unnecessary addition to the genre

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 13 April 2008]

In the last few years, there have been several martial arts spoofs that I could recommend. If you like your humor really, really dumb (yet oddly funny), then take a look at KUNG PAO--ENTER THE FIST with Steve Oedekirk. If you want the funniest and most memorable, see Steven Chow's KUNG FU HUSTLE--a film that is much more polished and less dopey than KUNG PAO.

In light of these two good and watchable martial arts send-offs, I really can't see why anyone would want to see KUNG PHOOEY!--especially since it is really dumb--and not in a good way. The humor is purely elementary school level with one dull joke after another (such as calling a holy site 'Shir Lee Temple'). Frankly, I kept waiting for the jokes to get better but they didn't. The bottom line is that life is short and I doubt if many people want to see more than one or two parodies of martial arts films--so why bother with this rather limp one?! Watchable but ultimately very stupid and, at times, very annoying.

My God, this is NOT funny.

[Bietscher · 1/10 · 12 September 2004]

By accident I stumbled upon this piece of trash. Thank God I didn't spend any money on it. I really tried to laugh, because that's what I expect from a comedy, but it just wasn't possible throughout the entire movie. The "jokes" were rip-offs and executed in a very terrible and predictable way. Worst of all, the name of the main character, Art Chew; Gesundheit ha ha ha. It wasn't funny the first time and they repeated that joke for another 5 times or so. The camera was very unstable making it a tiresome experience to watch and the acting was quite abominable. Don't even try comparing this to Kung Pow. Kung Pow had me laughing the whole 90 minutes. This crapheap almost messed up my mood for the weekend.

I liked this film a bunch, in there with indie comedies like Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer.

[phrixion · 5/10 · 17 August 2005]

This film goes consistently along with Scarie Movie 2 and 3, Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Weird Science, Ferris Bullers Day Off, Kung Pow, Harold and Kumar, Half Baked, Big Trouble in Little China and I can go on and on.

The movie presents comedy on a lot of different levels and is highly entertaining in my opinion if you like cheesy indie comedies. The film incorporates satire of traditional Chinese film and cultural stigmas in kung fu style showing the great sense of humor these comedians and writers have.

Thie movie is great for kids and family too, it had me laughing and repeating lines from the movie for weeks.

Got a big "kick" out of this one...

[porkfriedduck · 7/10 · 5 August 2004]

I stumbled upon Kung Phooey at a local video store that tends to cater towards the indies and not so much of the mainstream. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a low-budget film could have such a good look to it. The cover just looked too silly for me to pass up. Sure, it's filled with cheap gags and goofy character imitations, but it is a slapstick spoof and that's exactly what I was expecting. Kung Phooey was a huge step up over the extremely disappointing Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. I seemed to notice some familiar faces in the cast too. Not sure why it's rated R...there didn't seem to be anything inappropriate. I watched it with my two kids and they loved it!

Pee Pee In Your Coke

[VonCouch · 5/10 · 2 July 2005]

I've known about Kung Phooey for a while now. I've been seeing it for about a year on my local Hollywood Video shelf. I mean, come on. It's kind of hard to miss the cover of the DVD box. I've been meaning to watch it for a while, it looking like a cheaper version of a favorite film of mine: Kung Pow. Finally I picked it up the other day for a chuckle. Did I get what I wanted? Well, yes and no.

Kung Phooey is not really a bad movie for what it is. It's a low budget spoof of the Kung Fu genre. And, at times, it works as such. But the sad truth is that it falls into the pitfall of 90% of low budget comedies. It just doesn't know how to tell a joke. The joke is set up and given, but the punchline just kind of falls flat and without much fanfare. I don't know what is with low budget comedies like this. Perhaps it's too long of a pause after a punchline. Perhaps it's silly music to accentuate the punchline. If I had more time and effort, I'm sure I could do a very revealing study on it. However, I'm a very lazy man.

So in summation, Kung Phooey is not necessarily a bad film. The script is good enough, the acting is good enough, the filming is good enough. For a low budget film, at least you can see the director knows what he's doing. But it just kind of sits like cardboard in that it's not funny. Truly, I would give this film a 4.5 if I could. But seeing that I can tell they had good intentions and they tried their best, I'll give them the benefit of the curve.

Great martial arts spoof...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 6 July 2012]

"Kung Phooey!" is a great comedy spoof, and you will find it particularly enjoyable if you liked movies such as "The Naked Gun" and "Airplane", and of course, also if you like Kung Fu movies.

The story in "Kung Phooey!" was entertaining and had lots of nice touches to it, as there was references all over the place. And just like "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun" they were making fun of just about everything and even themselves.

The jokes are funny and just as stupid as in other spoof movies of the same type, and that is just what makes the movie so much fun. Nothing is holy here, they make fun of all and everything.

As for the action, yes there is action in the movie, it is a Kung Fu spoof after all, then I will say that it was actually quite good. Sure there was poking fun of this as well, but there was some good enough martial arts in the movie as well.

The people they had cast for the roles were doing good jobs, and the names of the characters was just hilarious. I loved that touch.

I was thoroughly entertained by "Kung Phooey!", but of course I do enjoy Kung Fu and comedies. If you like neither of these, I wouldn't recommend you watching "Kung Phooey!" because you will find it pointless.

Let the quest for the ancient peach begin!

About three chuckles in it

[dullatron · 2/10 · 14 February 2003]

A nice try, but you've got to be able to sustain farce for it to work. Any letdowns and the mood and interest come grinding to a halt. That's the case here -- a friend and I saw it at the SF International Asian American Film Festival, and there just wasn't the great comedic writing, consistent sight gags or consistent atmosphere to keep it going. It was somewhat similar to "Kung Pow" from a year or so earlier; I guess "Kung Phooey" worked harder at the farcical mood, and could have been a better film than "Kung Pow" had it had more of a budget for writing and filmmaking. Hope to see more from Darryl Fong in the future, however.

A silly time with lots of laughs

[laidbackpat · 9/10 · 19 September 2004]

This is a very enjoyable movie that may not be very deep but definitely achieves getting a few laughs. The jokes are continuous and many do hit the right chord. It's fast paced, silly, and quirky and ends up making a very entertaining spoof. It goes against many stereotypes by spoofing everything. I was watching it with my family and they all enjoyed it. It is a fine movie for kids (despite the ridiculous R rating) and it is also fun for adults.

Bottom line: If you like light-hearted slapstick spoofs - give Kung Phooey a try. *** out of ****

Not Funny

[cbgiant · 1/10 · 26 September 2006]

This pile of diseased, hairy, rat crap should never be compared to Kung Pow. Kung Pow, at least had some originality with its delivery. Reminiscent of MST3K, the characters of Kung Pow make fun of themselves with snappy remarks - the film (Tiger and Crane Fist) ends up acknowledging itself as being awful. Quite creative compared to Kung Phooey, which is only awful. Empty of plot or sub-plots (plot can have an affect despite that some people discard its importance), the acting was sub-par, and attempted jokes fell flat on their already flattened faces. Just Simply Not Funny. Kung Phooey might as well be less than diseased, hairy, rat crap - its offensive to it. Humor is a matter of taste, but is this movie really worth it? Do yourself a favor - save your time, money, and sanity by not seeing this barfed up excuse for a movie.

What A Movie!

[crimson_star75 · 8 August 2004]

I just rented Kung Phooey. Did I like it? I normally return movies I rent the next day so that I can get an early return credit, instead of keeping them for the full rental period. I rent 2-3 movies a week and I've only kept 2 movies past the first day. Kung Phooey was one of them. I wound up watching it almost daily. The comedy worked on all levels. From stuff my kids laughed at (and me, too), to higher brow stuff that had me rolling on the floor. I especially like the scene with the Jean Claude-esque character. I find myself quoting their fight scene at random moments throughout the day. Many 'indie' films tend to be 'serious' and wind up being melodramatic. I haven't seen many indie comedies, much less ones that made me laugh as much as this film. Come to think of it, most big-budget Hollywood comedies don't make me laugh as much as this film. Great work all around!

Neat Script, Terrible Terrible Acting

[wong-3 · 1/10 · 21 May 2004]

To be honest there has not been a good spoof film since Hot Shots/Naked Guns were made. Kung-Pow was so-so if you watched it with a cargo. The Scary Movies have been so average. Kung Phoey is just plain terrible.

Good points first, sorry good poinT first. The script is actually quite good, not sure on the plot but the dialogue is quite funny.

However (bad poinT), in most film reviews (magazines), far too often actors get of lightly if the film is really bad. Most of the blame falls on a rubbish script or poor direction. Not so in Kung Phoey's case, the problem lies in the acting is downright amateur. Worse than that, the neighbours could do a better job. Every single cast member has the comic timing of a nuclear explosion at Xmas, they are so bad. The film, hence, becomes so bad it's not funny, just badddddd!

In the hands of adequate comic actors this could have been a small hit but in the hands o amateurs is downright poop!

It was funny as heck

[kwoyak · 8/10 · 31 December 2004]

Kung Phooey was a light hearted spoof with a lot of very funny scenes. It was not too vulgar or crude but had some moments. The flow of the film was pretty good. The interaction between the characters seemed natural. It was rather witty but not all together original as most spoofs are not. I thought part of the charm in this film was the lack of acting skill by the stereo typed characters. I think this just added to the humor. Face it this is not a big budget film. The plot and delivery are both funny. I would recommend this movie if you need a laugh. I was surprised by the rating. I would not let kids under 13 see the movie Kung Phooey.

what are you talking about?

[Italianhitman86 · 10/10 · 4 January 2005]

This movie was a lot better than Kung Pow I thought! Honestly, "This junk almost messed up my mood for the weekend." stated by: Bietscher from The Netherlands. Come on, get a life ya freak. Unlike Kung Pow, these guys actually made a movie from scratch. Kung Pow was a movie already made, all they did was take the characters from the original movie and replace them with our actors from today. This movie was also a "cheaply made" movie and never made it to movies. Kung Pow wasn't a "cheaply made" movie and it made it to movies, and all they did was trade the places of the characters. THIS MOVIE WAS A LOT BETTER THAN KUNG POW AND IT ALWAYS WILL BE!!!!!!!

Genuinely funny!

[Memob · 10/10 · 2 May 2003]

I saw this at the SF Asian American Film Festival. The first show completely sold out so there was a second showing too. In both cases, the theaters were PACKED!! Not a single empty seat either. The humor was sly in the way it took jabs at stereotypes of Asians in the movies.

**SPOILER** For example, there was a scene in a chinese restaurant where a group of Midwest tourists had just finished a meal. After they left the owner turns to the rest of the diners and says, "OK, white people gone!" At the point EVERYONE puts down their chopsticks and pick forks and knives!

**SPOILER** There was another part where Waymon says to Uncle Wong, "Why do you keep doing that subserviant chinese old man thing!?" Uncle Wong's accent disappears and he calls the script supervisor into the shot and says, "That's what it says in the script!"

"Kung Phooey!" hit the mark much better than the god awful "Kung Pow." The fact that "Kung Phooey!" was actually a low budget independent movie added a certain amount of charm to it.

The jokes and humor were paced well enough so that it didn't overwhelm the story. What "Better Luck Tomorrow" did for Asian Americans in a drama "Kung Phooey!" does for Asian Americans in comedy. Go see it and you'll leave the theater cracking up too!

PS. Stick around through the credits and you'll see some HILARIOUS outtakes!

This was one of he BEST!

[Soluchan · 9/10 · 27 August 2005]

Seriously, this movie was great. It is a low budget film, and that into consideration should be taken into account. I laughed my as off! The acting, directing, and writing were good. I hope he makes more films! The sound editing was great also. The director/writer, cast, and crew made this film great! And no, I do not know any of them, but I would like to me them!

My friend just did a low budget movie (really low, and it isn't a zombie movie...even though it was made in Florida). It is called Mandatory Overtime. It has some good writing, but the sound quality and acting were kind of bad (sorry Brad, I liked it but just being honest...not that you will ever read this). But the point is the movie made laugh. Anyway, check out http://www.mandatoryovertimethemovie.com

If you are interested!

But back to this movie...Tons of laughs and clever writing!! Thank you!

Amazing Indie film!

[CCR-7 · 9/10 · 31 May 2006]

This movie will have you laughing. It will have you saying "I know what they mean. " It is a great parody of all kung fu flicks, young and old. It offers good pop culture jokes, and lots of Asian stereotype jokes (although these are acted out, and many TRY to be stereotypes. The cast is mainly Asian, so this is of course viewed as acceptable, as they are making fun of their own kind. ) The jokes range from cheap humor to actual in depth jokes. It's not crazy like Kung Pow. It has a main plot (a fairly good one at that) , and focuses on the character's personalities. The script is good, the actors are good too. The film is presented nicely, and this film has made Darell Fong one of my favorite directors.

Lots of Laughs!

[elaine-55 · 9/10 · 27 March 2003]

This film was very funny and entertaining! I saw both Kung Pow and Kung Phooey and there were no similarities at all. Kung Phooey has funny one-liners, action and visual laughs. The story is goofy, but well written. Definitely a movie I would see again (there was so much laughter in the theater, it was hard to catch all the jokes). There's more to this film than a crazy comedy, there's an underlying message about Asian stereotypes. For an independent film, the fight scenes, costumes and locations were exceptional. I also hope to see more of Darryl Fong's work in the future.

Cultural Competence and Gotcha

[deesartx · 12 September 2004]

I admit it...I did laugh out loud. It takes awhile to get it - that the spoof is the spoof. This movie is much more about blasting stereotypes than about spoofing the old Kung Foo run of hits and misses. Every social service or public health organization that requires "cultural competence" training would do far better with this corny but telling depiction of the gross stereotyping prevalent in all sectors...rather than the deadly talking heads or overly-processed exploration of prejudice. Although the 11 year old market of viewers may be more tempted to take this one off the shelf, it's way fun. But you may have to think and even squirm once you get it. Enjoy the a

He the master-Of the Kung Phooey!

[wellthatswhatithinkanyway · 5 November 2003]

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Admittently I'm a little biased here,as I have something of a penchant for spoof movies and we have recently already had the similarly themed Kung Pow:Enter the Fist.And the kung fu genre has already kind of been parodied to death as it is.But all the same,this manages to be hilariously funny in it's own right.***