cover


This movie is available for purchase at www.yesasia.com

YesAsia


Rating:

8.25


Year of release: 1994

Genre: comedy

Director: Lee Lik-Chi

Action directors: Ching Siu-Tung, Dion Lam

Stars: Stephen Chow, Ng Man-Tat, Christy Chung, Lam Kwok-Bun, Wong Yat-Fei, Vincent Kok, Leo Koo, Joe Cheng Cho, Lee Lik-Chee, Paul Chun Pui, Gabriel Wong, Leung Wing-Chung, Jacky Cheung, Billy Chow, Peter Lai, Lee Kin-Yan, Philip Chan

Rated IIB for language


VCD Information

Company: Mei Ah

Format: widescreen

Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin

Subtitles: Chinese/English (burned in)

Extras: none

Notes: There is some wear present in the early scenes and the picture is pretty faded. This is about as good as Mei Ah's DVD, so if you're cheap, stick with this version instead.


Related links:

Stephen Chow biography
Movie Review index
Main Page

Love on Delivery

Love on Delivery

Love on Delivery isn't often mentioned when people discuss Stephen Chow's best works, especially after the runaway success of Shaolin Soccer. However, in this reviewer's opinion, it's one of Chow's greatest cinematic accomplishments. In some ways, it's actually better than his more well-known films like King of Comedy and God of Cookery. Stephen Chow and director Lee Lik-Chi never really present any illusion that Love on Delivery is trying to be something that it isn't, and that attitude is refreshing in this day and age, when so many movies try to be "important" that they forget that they're supposed to be entertaining as well.

The film has Stephen playing a dim-witted delivery boy (who, in contrast to many of his other roles, is actually a pretty nice guy) whose route includes a martial arts school. During one of his trips, he is kissed by a beautiful girl (Christy Chung) who is trying to throw off her horny teacher (Joe Cheng Cho). As he is a fairly normal red-blooded male, Stephen instantly falls in love with Christy and sets out to woo her. The problem is that he's a coward, and Christy only likes brave guys. After receiving a beating from the teacher, Stephen sets out to learn kung fu from a con artist (played by long-time Chow sidekick Ng Man-Tat). This leads to some of the strangest fight scenes ever put to celluloid, including a extremely bizarre brawl where Stephen dons a Garfield mask.

Love on Delivery

Love on Delivery is a fast-moving and funny movie that finds Stephen Chow at the top of his game, and it's also one of his more accessible films for Western audiences, who are often thrown off by his use of fast-flying Cantonese puns and parodies of Chinese pop culture. Those types of things are still in Love on Delivery; it wouldn't be a true Chow "nonsense" comedy without them. For instance, there is a recurring gag where both Stephen and Ng Man-Tat dress up like Inframan (the Chinese version of Japanese superhero Ultraman). It just seems that there are more jokes which Westerners can relate to, such as Stephen and Ng Man-Tat (who is his usual great self, managing to upstage Chow at a few points) singing a horribly funny version of "Funkytown" or a dead-on parody of Terminator 2.

Overall, I don't have much to complain about here. The pacing seems to be a little off -- it would've been nice to take a breather from the blitzkrieg of comedy and actually get some character development. Even though I enjoyed the film and the comedic level of the jokes was very high for the most part, there wasn't really one gut-busting scene like in a lot of Stephen Chow's other movies. Also, the movie's low budget is very apparent in parts; the climatic fight looks like it was made in a half-lit high school gym. However, these are really very minor complaints. In Hong Kong, comedy doesn't get any better than Stephen Chow, and this is one of the best films he's done. For viewers that are both new to the genre or a long-time fan, if you dig "moy len tau", you should check Love on Delivery out.

Love on Delivery