There really is no story to speak of here. A young waiter spends the whole movie trying to get the town barber/resident kung fu master to teach him his monkey style, while various fights between different animal styles are dropped in periodically. The master eventually concedes, and the final fight pits the monkey fighters against a drifter thug and his deadly snake style. Basic stuff. I started the movie with low to no expectations, expecting yet another run of the mill martial arts comedy. Incredibly, I found it growing on me after about 15 minutes. It has an easy charm to it that can't be manufactured -- either you have it or you don't. Some movies try to achieve this and come off as meager attempts at lighthearted comedy, others simply end up feeling cloying. Then there's a movie like this, which attacks its material like a comedian barreling ahead with their monologue, oblivious to whether anyone is laughing or even cares. It is genuinely funny and never tries hard or pleads for its laughs (mainly because many of them are unintentional, but hey). It's goofy at heart and as the movie went on I found myself enjoying the comedy not for the content, but for the way it was delivered with an impish grin and no expectations. One of the best scenes involves the Master refusing the Waiter's request to teach him, and then follows a very slow chase between the two up and down a tree. It's simple and the way it's handled without a second's thought bumps it up into something sublime.

The martial arts moves aren't anything I haven't seen 20 times before, but there are flashes of creativity and the actors perform them like they're the hottest kids on the block. With that kind of confidence, who's to say they're not? Granted, the animal styles showcased are a little suspect -- the "tiger style" reminded me more of a drunken Frankenstein swatting at opponents. But this criticism can easily be quelled by quoting a passage from the movie: "You call that Crane style?" "It's a special Crane style!"

The editing and direction are adequate for the most part, at least until the editing breaks down in the final few scenes, most likely from parts of scenes being haphazardly scrapped. On a good note, the music, which can make or break a movie, is brilliant. It's a bizarre patchwork of sweeping orchestral strings, jangly '70s spaghetti western themes, saxophone solos, and other mismatched musical snatches. At times I thought I even heard the theme songs for both The Fox and the Hound and the Oscar ceremonies. It serves to throw another layer on the goofiness, and one that is often hilarious. When a movie cuts to the hero practicing his monkey style silhouetted against the sun, with a bizarre Chipmunks-like accompaniment, you can't help but choke on your drink.

I'm always pleased when I give a movie that looks terrible a chance and it in turn rewards me with something special. Beyond most logical reasoning I stuck with Monkey Fist Floating Snake, and in its endearing ineptness I found a small gem. The best part of the movie is the relationship between the Waiter and the Master. Their endless back and forth games are amusing, and the Master croaks out his lines like a toothless old coot from the Wild West. It's all in good fun. The movie's grasp on me may be tenuous -- I'm not sure how I'd react to it on another day, in another mood, with different weather. But tonight the pieces seemed to be there, and it worked for me.