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The Mermaid
2016; directed by Stephen Chow

Fans have long been clamoring for Stephen Chow -- who helped to create the uniquely Hong Kong "moy len tau" (nonsense) style of cinematic comedy and came to be considered one of Asia's top comedic actors -- to come back to appear on the screen, but he seems satisfied with working behind the camera. And with results such as The Mermaid, a funny farce with some heart that has gone on to be the biggest hit in Chinese box office history, one can definitely see why helming films, rather than starring in them, is currently more appealing for the entertainment industry veteran.

The Mermaid

The titular mermaid here is Li Ruo-Lan (played by Kitty Zhang Yuqi) whose ability to walk on her fins marks her to being tasked with hatching a "honeypot" scheme to kill the tycoon Liu Xuan (Deng Chao), who has bought the bay where the merpeople live and is using sonar to kill off the wildlife in order to drive the price of bordering land down. Li and Liu soon end up developing feelings for each other, which doesn't sit well with the leaders of the merpeople or Liu's business partners.

The Mermaid

Continuing Stephen Chow's cinematic trend, The Mermaid is more straightforward than many of his older films, with less of a dependence on moy len tau staples like pop culture references and Chinese puns (though, of course, there's still plenty of nods to Chow's favorite actor, Bruce Lee). There are still some changes in tone -- the movie will veer from slapstick to heartfelt drama depending on the scene -- and the film is crude at points, but in many ways, this is a kinder and gentler (and some would say more mature) work from Chow, on the surface far removed from his early works with directors Wong Jing and Jeffrey Lau, which were often an (admittedly hilarious) cavalcade of dick and fart jokes.

The Mermaid

That is not to say that Chow has forgotten to be funny. In fact, the results here show that Chow is more on his game than ever. Deng Chao is not quite as much of a "rubber face" as Chow is onscreen, but he provides a suitable avatar for Chow's dialogue and personification of his oft-used "jerk with a heart of old" trope. Kitty Zhang fulfills the role usually employed by Chow's "straight men" such as Ng Man-Tat and is really wonderful at steering and controlling the jokes around her, something which is no small feat in the rapid-fire world of a Stephen Chow movie, where everything moves so quickly -- especially here in what is essentially a Mainland production that managed to run about twenty-five percent less than the usual release (ninety minutes versus two hours) but delivers much more entertainment than the usual slick and stagnant mass market Mainland release.

RATING: 7

The Mermaid has been released in North America by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Sony's release is uncut, with Mandarin, Thai, and English soundtracks available along with French, Chinese, Thai, English, and Spanish subtitles. It is available on VOD, DVD, and Blu-ray from Amazon. Extras on the disc-based versions include trailers for the movie, behind the scenes featurettes, a music video, and a code to access the digitial version.

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