Kung Pow!: Enter The Fist

Kung Pow!: Enter The Fist – Awfully Good

March 19th 2020, 9:00am

Last Updated on January 10, 2022

With the entire world going to shit, it seems like we could all use a good laugh. So here’s one of my favorite Awfully Good comedies…

Kung Pow!: Enter The Fist (2002)

Director: Steve Oedekerk
Stars: Steve Oedekerk, Jennifer Tung, Some Chinese people who probably have no idea they’re in this

The Chosen One seeks vengeance on the man who murdered his family…Betty.

I don’t really believe in guilty pleasures. With the sole exception of Nickelback, if you love something, you should own it. So I will proudly own this: KUNG POW!: ENTER THE FIST is one of my favorite comedies. It’s an unapologetically dumb movie and I will not begrudge anyone who thinks that makes it terrible, but for those fans that “get it,” it’s a film full of lines and moments that will stay with you forever.

For example, any time somebody offers me peanuts, no matter what the quantity, I have no choice but to yell out, “THAT’S A LOT OF NUTS!”

It’s no secret why the Chosen One was so popular with the ladies.

KUNG POW is the brainchild of Steve Oedekerk, the man behind the equally quotable ACE VENTURA: WHEN NATURE CALLS and the underrated NOTHING TO LOSE. Similar to Woody Allen’s WHAT’S UP, TIGER LILY?, Oedekerk essentially took an old Chinese kung fu movie from the 70s and not only dubbed over it but also digitally inserted himself and other performers to Frankenstein together a ridiculous new creation. The result is just a non-stop barrage of jokes, from the opening narrated credits to the ending tease for an insane-looking sequel that sadly never came to be. The film is relentless in taking every chance to make you laugh, no matter how absurd or lowbrow the gag may be.

Which is why I would consider it a grower and not a shower. There are some random lines and scenes that I thought was absolute time filler on first viewing that have become favorites on repeated watches—the very literal ventriloquists, the random product placement for Neo-ba-na-na-sporin, the effectiveness of a tiny net, and the boomboxguy blasting early 90s hip hop.

No hand sanitizer? No problem!

I won’t pretend that KUNG POW is some shining beacon of cinematic quality. It’s a silly concept turned in to an equally silly movie, but Odekirk leans in to it with the full power of The Chosen One. Not every joke lands, but the film’s secret weapon is its willingness to go the extra mile with some of the gags. Just when you think something has gone far enough and is getting stale, the film keeps it going to the point where it eventually becomes funny again. Like the lengthy MATRIX-style fight with the CGI cow, which always starts to lose me…until the cow does a piledriver on the hero and I’m fully on board again. Or Master Tang’s repeated flashbacks that provide the audience with absolutely no useful information.

When panic shoppers buy all the milk at the grocery store, you need to get creative.

If you want to give someone credit—or blame—it should go to Oedekerk, who wrote, directed, stars in, and does all the dubbed voices for KUNG POW. He clearly loves kung fu movies and gets them enough to lampoon them in a fun, loving way, and he handles the fighting scenes in the film surprisingly well. But it’s the dubbing that really makes the movie work. His voices for Betty and Ling are all-timers as far as I’m concerned. If I watch this movie I know I’m going to spend the next week walking around muttering “Tiger, birdie” to myself or annoying all my loved ones with random “Wee-Ooh-Wee’s.”

And I can’t praise this enough—Oedekerk has the good sense to know that this could get old very fast and wisely keeps it at an hour and ten minutes (minus the end credits and sequel tease).

Guillermo del Toro’s original idea for the Pale Man in PAN’S LABYRINTH was…different.

So if you need a quick, mindless pick-me-up (and who doesn’t right now), I recommend KUNG POW!: ENTER THE FIST. The highest compliment I can give this film is that I truly had a difficult time picking the clips for the Best Lines and Best Parts videos below.