MovieChat Forums > Kung Pow: Enter the Fist (2002) Discussion > Why do people HATE this movie?

Why do people HATE this movie?

posted 16 years ago by mrjayberry
59 replies | jump to latest

I'm not talking dislike or thought is sucked. It seems that this movie more than most is a polarizing. I've known several people react almost violently to the thought of watching it. When it was in theaters I had two friends walk out before the opening credits. Just last night we were watching it at work on our lunch break, three of us laughing and one guy very agitated swearing repeatadly.
What gives, think its stupid all you want, I see that but is it that bad.

[–] Alek_Hidell 15 years ago

This movie was meant to be a goofy, stupid, funny movie....and it succeeded on all counts. I'm sure the makers never expected to be getting an Oscar for their work.

I always discount any reviews where the poster says that they walked out of the movie. It means that they didn't give it a full chance. Snobs, all of them.

Some people take comedy way too seriously.

------------------
I'm just a patsy!

[–] tallpall 15 years ago

gopher chucks and the cow ruined it

[–] Captain_Bob 15 years ago

I can understand why some people find this movie to be dumb and un-funny, while others like me love it (comic relief). It's very "Canadian" humor (random goofy slapstick). So many bust-out-loud laugh moments, but each to their own.

Now I have to go annoy my girlfriend by making that "ooo-wee-ooo-wee-ooo" sound...

[–] timbob1 15 years ago

Seems to me that quite a lot of people dislike it passionately because it pokes fun at martial arts movies - and MA buffs (at least, the ones I know) tend to regard their genre as sacrosanct. Personally, I would say that anyone who walks out of a movie before the opening credits is either an idiot or is trying to make some sort of point.

Kung Pow is obviously not high art - but come on guys, it's not trying to be! It is just a spoof with an unusually high number of sight gags, slapstick and corny references to other movies. Difficult as I find it to believe that anyone could see it and not laugh, I find it even more incomprehensible that anyone could find it offensive enough to actually hate the thing.

Tim

Early to rise, and early to bed, makes a man healthy (though socially dead)

[–] claudia02127 15 years ago

Well said. I admit that I am easily amused..and that's why I liked this movie. A lot.

This is a logic free zone:
Use of logic will be met with uncomfortable silences

[–] libertines38 15 years ago

I have seen many movies and not one movie has came close to making me laugh more than this one

[–] OllieBean 15 years ago

Ok, I'll admit I thought the movie was sooo stupid, I couldn't stop laughing. You just can't take it seriously and once you surrender to the absurdity/stupidity, you will have a good time. My wife didn't think it was funny, but she laughed at me the whole time because she liked watching me not being able to breathe while I was laughing.

[–] kingcarcas 15 years ago

I can see why some wouldn't find it funny......but hating it? IDK It certainly reminded me of Airplane and Hot Shots, while the date movies and epic movies were pretty sucky.

If you don't believe in Jesus Christ and are 100% proud of it, put this in your sig.

[–] sdc100 15 years ago

A lot of people probably expected too much, or expected something else. You can't appreciate a parody unless you're familiar with what it's parodying. The jokes often depend on prior knowledge, and an interplay between the present parody and the source material. The fact is, 70's Hong Kong style martial arts movies are no longer in the American consciousness. It reached its peak in the late 70's with the Bruce Lee craze (remember the hit song, "Kung Fu Fighting"?). Audiences have gotten much more sophisticated, expecting the intricate beauty of Crouching Tiger...., or the CGI wizardry of Matrix.

I personally LOVED it, giving it 8/10 for pure entertainment value and creativity. I should explain that I base this on an airing on SpikeTV with cuts and commercial interruptions. I tuned in randomly, without expectations, having never heard of the movie. But I hadn't laughed so hard in many years. My background is somewhat unusual. I am Chinese-American but HATE HATE HATE martial arts movies, finding them to be an embarrassment. In fact, I even refuse to watch the highly rated Crouching Tiger because I hate the anachronistic Wuxia themes of revenge, honor, righteousness, blah, blah, blah... Everything is cartoonishly black and white. My parents, however, watches this junk daily on the Hong Kong-based cable station TVB. I am a huge fan of PBS (Masterpiece Theater), TCM, IFC and [European] foreign films, and took 2 years of cinema studies at NYU where I was an A student. And while I love French New Wave and German Expressionism, I also love the sophisticated American screwball comedies of the 40's. Despite this stuffy background, I enjoyed every minute of Kung Pow. Just as I enjoyed other genre-parodying movies like Airplane. For me, this was an obvious labor of love.

For what it's worth, my ex-girlfriend, who is black (and read all of Shakespeare's plays by age 21!), also loved it. And no, we're not easily amused. Frasier is our favorite sitcom, and we think MTV is for morons, but we do enjoy the wit of Comedy Central.

I look forward to renting the DVD and the sequel.

PS - I very seldomly post on imdb. The length of this message shows how much I appreciated the movie!

[–] kubevubin 15 years ago

What's funny about this movie is how even fans of other really, really stupid movies seem to hate it. Where I used to work, one of my managers thought that this movie was one of the dumbest movies that he'd ever seen. He then went on to claim that Alien Vs. Predator has a great storyline.

[–] Jyveturkey 14 years ago

People just don't "get" this movie. Nah, I hate when people say that.

Different strokes for different folks, really. I don't laugh at 95% of what "normal" people would find funny. But Kung Pow had me dying. This movie made me laugh more than all comedies I've seen, combined.

Go s!

[–] saimblah 14 years ago

I watched Ahmed the terrorist with my friens who were laughing their asses off and thought "Well that was amusing I guess" later I heard some people on the subway quoting it and some girls at my university quoting it as well. Guess it's pretty big but didn't find it that funny.

Later I saw Borat in the theatre and thought "yeah It's pretty solid entertainment but nothing great" After I'd seen it I heard people all over the place say "My name-a Borat" and though that isn't really a proper quote since its not funny in itself just made it quite tedios to listen to a lot of people keep saying that. Same goes for "I KIEL YOU!"

but Kung Pow the movie had me in stiches and I must admit that I became one of those douchebags who would quote the movie with his friends and laugh about "FACE TO FOOTSTYLE HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?" and "THAT'S A LOT OF NUTS!"

But I do understand how people wouldn't find this movie funny. I mean I didn't find the 1 boob chick scene funny and the cow fight was only mildly amusing.

But I know people who find Epic Movie and Date Movie funny yet critisize this movie. Strange huh?

Some of the stuff I like is: arrested development, seinfeld (in small doses) Early season South Park, Family Guy (also in small doses) Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, The Naked Gun Series etc.

[–] dolfinatic3000 14 years ago

Just laughed out loud when I read "THAT'S A LOT OF NUTS!"... whoooo...

I used to watch this movie with my sister and brother-in-law - who are both 10 years older than I, and some of the most mature people I know - ALL the time. We've tried to share it with others, but have never gotten anyone to laugh at it as hard as we do. We've decided it's just "our thing".

I'm going to go see them this weekend, so I might work up the courage to try to watch it with my wife for the first time. Wish me luck!

[–] saimblah 14 years ago

good luck

[–] dolfinatic3000 14 years ago

She liked it! Win.

[–] Daltonator 14 years ago

This is eaisly the funniest movie EVER made. I agree with Captain Bob it is a very "Canadian" style of humor. It has to be one of the stupidest movies ever made, making it one of the funniest movies. Every single line/action in the movie had my in stitches. Wheter its from Mu Shu Fasha, or they guy screaming "THAT'S ALOT OF NUTS!" This is one of the very few movies were i have literally laughed for the entire duration of the movie!

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] hecantune 14 years ago

I stayed away from the movie for a long time because of what I saw in the trailer. It just looked incredibly (unfunny) stupid. Then recently it came on HBO and I decided to DVR it. Still took another three weeks before I finally got around to it. Loved it! Some scenes had me absolutely cracking up. I didn't care for the cow but otherwise it's a fun little flick.

My favorite part is "Why I outta!" Love the look on that guy's face. And of course Betty's laugh owns.

If it pays right and it's legal, I'll do it.
.......Well......if it pays right, I'll do it.

[–] reptilicus2003 14 years ago

In this thread, people entirely and totally missing the whole point of the movie.

To be as dumb as *beep* possible.

[–] c17h25n 13 years ago

I stayed away from it because of the trailer as well. Eventually watched it with my brother in law and spent the next few years watching it religiously. Hadn't had that much fun with a movie since BASEketball, which is another movie you either seem to love or have a deep hate for.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] 13 years ago

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