“Kung Fu Hustle” is an absurd film that mixes the martial arts, crime and comedy genres together. Lots of people seem to love this film but I really struggled to see the appeal. Visually, this movie is intriguing but a lot of the gags just came across as weird.

Set in Shanghai during the 1940s, Sing (Stephen Chow “Shaolin Soccer”, “From Beijing With Love”) is a wannabe outlaw that desperately wants to join a local gang known for wielding axes. The gang is currently locked in a battle with a housing complex where the residents have extraordinary fighting powers that they are using to defend their home.

Stephen Chow not only stars in this film but directed it and wrote it to. The Sing character is not actually in as much of the film as I was expecting considering it features so prominently on the posters. I just had no strong opinion about the character one way or another. There’s a romantic subplot involving him and another character but it’s criminally underdeveloped. I found most of the characters strange and none of them made me laugh. Lots of characters engage in ridiculously cartoony fights where they kick people through walls and run around like Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner.

The fight sequences are outrageous and sometimes fun to watch and the movie looks great at times. However, the jokes are just so weird. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. I imagine that people in China find this stuff hilarious but it just did not work for me at all. A lot get spoofed here including “Looney Tunes”, “The Matrix Reloaded” and even “The Shining” and it all feels very random. There are plenty of genuinely funny martial arts films out there. May I recommend Jackie Chan’s “Miracles” as that combines the action with crime and comedy.