Chow down on 'Kung Fu Hustle'

Picking up where the sidesplitting "Shaolin Soccer" left off, Stephen Chow returns to his roles as writer, director, producer and star of the kooky "Kung Fu Hustle." Roger Ebert's review of the film refers to it as "Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton meet Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny" -- strange as this sounds, no statement could be more fitting.\nChow stars as Sing (the same character name he adopted in "Soccer"), a wannabe gangster who desperately desires membership into the dreaded Axe Gang. Coming off as a 1940s Shanghai surrogate to the Crazy 88 ("Kill Bill Vol. 1"), the Axe Gang terrorizes moneyed communities. Since the gang is discriminating, citizens of the poverty-stricken Pig Sty Alley have immunity. That is until Sing, masquerading as a Mafioso, tries to bilk a butt-showing barber out of a haircut for his portly pal (Chi Chung Lam, also of "Soccer"). One thing leads to another and a fight breaks out. The Axe Gang is suckered into scrapping on Sing's behalf only to have their asses handed to them by the triumphant trio of Donut (Dong Zhi Hua), a nice-guy baker; Tailor (Chiu Chi Ling), a gay garment-maker and Brother Sum (Kwok Kuen Chan -- Jackie Chan's last-minute nemesis in "The Legend of Drunken Master"), a rice-bag-lugging "lout" -- normal dudes with abnormal martial arts abilities. Also drawn into the melee mix are Pig Sty Alley's lusty Landlord (Wah Yuen -- Bruce Lee's stand-in for "The Chinese Connection) and his chain-smoking, skull-slapping, rapid-running wife the Landlady (Qiu Yuen, one-time Bond girl of "The Man with the the Golden Gun" who gained a whopping 40 lbs. for the flick). \nThings get crazier from here as Chow infuses the movie with references to "The Shining," "Forrest Gump," "The Matrix," "Spider-Man" and "Gangs of New York" among many others. Computer-generated imagery becomes the norm as bodies are catapulted through the air via roundhouse punches (choreographed by Yuen Wo Ping of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fame) to the face and characters kick up dirt and leave motion streaks during a foot chase that'd be right at home in a Chuck Jones "Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote" cartoon. If this weren't enough, gangsters break into dance after hatcheting a rival to death and a young boy receives a golden shower ... twice. All in all, it's some pretty heady stuff. Logic lapses abound (intended, mind you) and things occasionally grow tedious and repetitive, but when stupidity is presented as smartly as it is here all you can really do is sit back, relax and laugh.