The film has Stephen playing a dim-witted delivery boy (who, in contrast to many of his other roles, is actually a pretty nice guy) whose route includes a martial arts school. During one of his trips, he is kissed by a beautiful girl (Christy Chung) who is trying to throw off her horny teacher (Joe Cheng Cho). As he is a fairly normal red-blooded male, Stephen instantly falls in love with Christy and sets out to woo her. The problem is that he's a coward, and Christy only likes brave guys. After receiving a beating from the teacher, Stephen sets out to learn kung fu from a con artist (played by long-time Chow sidekick Ng Man-Tat). This leads to some of the strangest fight scenes ever put to celluloid, including a extremely bizarre brawl where Stephen dons a Garfield mask.

Love on Delivery is a fast-moving and funny movie that finds Stephen Chow at the top of his game, and it's also one of his more accessible films for Western audiences, who are often thrown off by his use of fast-flying Cantonese puns and parodies of Chinese pop culture. Those types of things are still in Love on Delivery; it wouldn't be a true Chow "nonsense" comedy without them. For instance, there is a recurring gag where both Stephen and Ng Man-Tat dress up like Inframan (the Chinese version of Japanese superhero Ultraman). It just seems that there are more jokes which Westerners can relate to, such as Stephen and Ng Man-Tat (who is his usual great self, managing to upstage Chow at a few points) singing a horribly funny version of "Funkytown" or a dead-on parody of Terminator 2.

Overall, I don't have much to complain about here. The pacing seems to be a little off -- it would've been nice to take a breather from the blitzkrieg of comedy and actually get some character development. Even though I enjoyed the film and the comedic level of the jokes was very high for the most part, there wasn't really one gut-busting scene like in a lot of Stephen Chow's other movies. Also, the movie's low budget is very apparent in parts; the climatic fight looks like it was made in a half-lit high school gym. However, these are really very minor complaints. In Hong Kong, comedy doesn't get any better than Stephen Chow, and this is one of the best films he's done. For viewers that are both new to the genre or a long-time fan, if you dig "moy len tau", you should check Love on Delivery out.

Chow plays a meek sandwich delivery boy whose good-hearted nature is sadly unappreciated by those around him. On his regular round, Chow delivers near a Judo school and has his eyes firmly fixed on a beautiful student there (Chung). However, the bullying teacher notices his interest and, as an admirer of her himself, humiliates his timid rival. Realising he is no match for the teacher, Chow searches for a kung-fu master to teach him the vital skills he needs. Unfortunately for him, he becomes the target of a fake kung-fu master (Ng Man Tat) who convinces Chow that he was actually Bruce Lee's teacher. This charlatan master teaches his new student a number of weird and wonderful kung-fu techniques while also relieving him of most of his money. However strange his new knowlege is though, Chow finds these bogus techniques of great benefit in winning the hand of his beloved and defeats his cackling nemesis. Although victorious, he now finds that he has to face another far more devastating challenger (Lam) to achieve his goal.

Playing the naive and endearing hero, Chow Sing Chi reverts to one of his most popular type of characters. The strength of such a character is that he is very easy to like and the audience is on his side right until the end. This is where 'Love On Delivery' succeeds. Added to this is a number of very funny scenes in the first part of the film, especially the early interaction between Chow Sing Chi and Ng Man Tat. These entertaining scenes dwindle as the film reaches its final third though and the ending is far too drawn out to compliment the previous hour. Although a very welcome introduction to the cast, Christy Chung isn't always sympathetic and Chow really goes through the wars to win her.

This may not be his very best comedy, but it is definitely worthwhile and among his better efforts. Therefore this still has much to commend and is well worth watching. A very strong three star rating, verging on four.

PICTURE: Letterboxed at 1.75:1 with no anamorphic availability. An average Mei Ah transfer with the usual blemishes on the print but solid enough colours and clarity.

SOUND: DD2.0 Cantonese or Mandarin soundtracks with burnt-in English and traditional Chinese subtitles.

TRAILERS: None.

EXTRAS: None.

There is not much of a story here – just your basic love triangle – fight to the death kind of thing – but Chow builds a number of funny routines around it. In some ways the film is a bit too dependent on gags and silliness with the flimsiest of plots, but it was just what I was in the mood for.

Christie Chung is a student at a judo school where the oafish instructor keeps hitting on her. To teach him a lesson, she pretends to be interested in a simple food delivery boy, Stephen Chow. Looking into those large brown eyes, Chow is instantly smitten and does everything he can to win her hand – even go through a hilarious scene where he takes his life into his hands by trying to buy Jackie Cheung tickets.

The judo instructor picks a fight with Chow and the result is that Christie thinks that Stephen is a coward – which he very sensibly is. So he turns to Ng Man-Tat to instruct him in the ways of Traditional Chinese Boxing. NMT is a bit of a con man or is he?

Finally, Chow thinks he is ready and in a hilarious fight takes on the instructor in a Garfield mask. Chow uses the Invincible Wind and Fire Wheel to defeat his opponent, but his problems are just beginning. An even tougher opponent enters the scene as a rival and this leads to one of the most ridiculous and funny fights ever. You have to witness round 3 to believe it.

This film pokes fun at a variety of targets from journalism to television to advertising and anything else that gets in its way. This is a favorite Chow film of lots of people and though I would not rank it in his top echelon of films, this sweet very amusing film is well worth watching.