Reviews:Royal Tramp
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ALTERNATE SYNOPSIS:
In this screen adaptation of Louis Cha’s famous novel, Stephen Chow heads a star-studded cast as a small time punk Wei Xiao Bao, who bumbles his way into the Imperial Court and poses an urchin and becomes Emperor Kangxi (Derek Wan) confidant. He has his hands full while he juggles between helping the Emperor dispose of the over bearing Minister-Regent Ao Bai and trying to steal the 42 Chapters for his master Chen Jin Nan (Damian Lau) who heads an activist group against the Qing government.
-Joy Sales
| Stephen Chow plays his usual ne'er-do-well character, this time a comedian named Wilson Bond, who makes his living telling tales in his sister's (Sandra Ng) brothel. A group of rebels are using the brothel as a meeting place, and when the Manchus attack to destroy the rebellion, Chow saves the leader (Damian Lau), who then intitiates him into the group. Chow's first mission is to infiltrate the Forbidden City as a servant in order to steal a series of books which reveal the location of a Manchu treasure. Upon entering the compound, Chow mistakenly becomes a eunuch (but somehow manages to save his "little Stephen") under the tutelage of wily Ng Man-Tat. Tat also wants the Manchu treasure, and so sends Stephen into the emperor's chambers, where he manages to convince the emperor and his sister (Chingmy Yau) that he is a kung-fu master, and so the emperor gives Stephen yet another task -- to kill a general named O'Brian (Elvis Tsui) who is plotting a revolution of his own.
Well, as you can probably tell, Royal Tramp has the usual Wong Jing "kitchen sink" plot and can become more than a bit confusing at times. It's also extremely violent in parts -- O'Brian likes to literally rip his opponents apart -- and of course, there is the requisite Wong Jing toilet humor (there is a running joke where Tat confuses Stephen with his long-lost penis). Despite its' schizophrenic style, though, Royal Tramp is still a very entertaining movie, mostly due to Stephen Chow's performance. Royal Tramp isn't as funny as some of Chow's other films, but it still generates a good amount of laughs, especially if you have seen a few of the movies which this film parodies (one sequence is a really dead-on jab at the Once Upon a Time in China series, including a re-worked version of "The General's Orders"). Combined with some decent action sequences and a lot of eye candy from Chingmy Yau and Cheung Man (who -- in the wacky world of Hong Kong movies -- plays Chingmy's mother, even though she looks to be only a couple of years older than her), Royal Tramp has the makings for a innocuous way to kill ninety minutes. |
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