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Love on Delivery


Reviewed by: kiliansabre
Date: 02/26/2008
Summary: One of the Best

Stephen Chow plays Ho, a noble but cowardly delivery man who is picked on by most everyone he comes in contact with. While delivering to a sports center one day he is kissed by Lily (Christy Chung) who is trying to off put the advances of martial arts coach Blackbear. Ho tries to win Lily's heart and is faced by a series of challenges that with the help of Devil Killer (Ng Man Tat) leads him to a fight that will show his true colors.

One of the best Stephen Chow comedies out there, Love on Delivery really does deliver on all levels. The humor is very silly at times, but it's so good natured that it's hard to not smile and laugh all the way through. Some of the best bits involve the indestructible Garfield and the match at the end where Ho and Devil Killer screw with Tuen Shui Lau. I still laugh out loud a lot when watching this movie and I have seen it upwards of a dozens of times. As usual there are some great splashes of genuine emotion here, a Chow specialty, and his character here is one anyone can get behind and root for. We are also treated to some unique martial arts at the end and though much of it's played for laughs it's still impressive to watch.

My one complaint here is that Christy Chung's character is never really fleshed out. Aside from being beautiful and longing for a brave hero she comes off as shallow the rest of the time since those are her two outstanding traits. I don't think it's necessarily a miscast as some have suggested so much as just undernourishment of character development. It isn't enough to detract from the movie and Stephen Chow and Ng Man Tat's characters have enough development to fill the void.

It's unfortunate that Chow's earlier movies haven't been released in a more available form in the US as fans of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle will find many of the rest of his films on par if not surpassing those later efforts. It's also unfortunate that a lot of Western audiences can't be bothered sitting through a movie unless it's been muddled by horrible dubbing and chopped up for a true popcorn experience. If you have only seen the latter two movies though do yourself a favor and seek this out or many of the other great Chow films from the 90s.

Also in the supporting cast you will find Wong Yat-Fei (Iron Head in Shaolin Soccer), Vincent Kok Tak-Chiu (villain from God of Cookery), as well as cameos by Billy Chow and Jackie Cheung.

Highly recommended to anyone who loves quality cinema and in particular the heart and comedy of Stephen Chow.

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: cal42
Date: 01/24/2007

Hapless delivery boy Ho (Chiau Sing-Chi) falls for pretty Judo student Lily (Christy Chung). However, his advances are spurned, as she believes Ho to be a coward. All is not lost though, as Ho makes the acquaintance of a seedy looking kung fu master (Ng Man-Tat), who isn’t all he seems to be. Ho must overcome his innate cowardliness and take on all his love-rivals – and face a brutal showdown with a martial arts master who most definitely IS the real thing!

Stephen Chiau’s comedies from this period (before he found worldwide fame) tend to be very Hong-Kong orientated and some are downright unfathomable to western audiences (take JUSTICE, MY FOOT for instance). However, LOVE ON DELIVERY uses no discernable trickery with the Cantonese language as far as I can see, and the jokes work in English quite well (although a working knowledge of Chinese pop-culture is highly recommended).

I’d even go as far as to say that pound for pound, for non-Cantonese speakers, LOVE ON DELIVERY is probably the funniest film Chiau has ever made.

It may be low budget, but it certainly packs the gags in. Some are obvious (yes, even blindingly obvious), but you’ll be surprised at the subtlety of some of the visual gags. It “misses” more than it “hits” I suppose, but with the sheer amount of jokes thrown at it there’s usually something you can have a chuckle at. Highlights are plenty, but mention has got to be made of the TERMINATOR 2 parody and the scene where Chiau becomes a Garfield-masked superhero. Crazy stuff, but Chiau has never been more likeable than in this film.

LOVE ON DELIVERY has recently been remastered by Celestial and released as part of the legendary Shaw Brothers catalogue – a move that is long overdue for this classic comedy. The previous release by Mei-Ah was just a VCD port with the customary burnt-in subtitles (which go missing for the fight commentary at the end) and was noticeably worse than my old VHS version. There are a few odd moments (there’s a reference to BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN here – some eleven years before it was made!) but on the whole, they work well.

Funnier than SHAOLIN SOCCER, less pretentious than KUNG FU HUSTLE, and easily less offensive than some of his 90’s films, LOVE ON DELIVERY is still worth a look. But beware, the humour is dating fast. See it while it’s still funny.

Reviewer Score: 9

Reviewed by: dandan
Date: 12/29/2006
Summary: sounds like a 'mail-order brides' documentary...

stephen chow is a delivery boy. on his daily rounds he stops by a martial arts school, where he falls in love with christy cheung. now, christy isn't interested in the advances of her instructor, but she isn't interested in chow after she discovers his cowardice. chow begins to take martial arts instruction from ng man tat, although he hardly seems credible, in order to prove his bravery and win christy's heart...

after 10 minutes of this film, i was bored. it was really grating on me. i wasn't enjoying it. then, it just got better; it got funny and i ended up really enjoying it. sure, it's pretty silly at times, but chow and ng are a really great duo, raising the film to a level that it shouldn't really have reached.

good stuff.


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 11/30/2006
Summary: 8/10 - enjoyable

Everybody has the hots for Lai (Christy Chung), especially her Martial Arts teacher - but she's not interested in such a brute. A good-natured delivery boy (Stephen Chiau) falls for her, but unfortunately he finds that she's also not interested in cowards. What she's looking for is a hero. He sets out to become one, by learning Chinese Kung Fu from sifu Ng Man Tat, though the teacher's intentions seem less-than-honorable.

This is a nice Stephen Chiau movie from director Lee Lik-Chi, not deviating far from the mould but managing to feel as fresh and be as entertaining as his films generally are. Christy Chung makes for a pretty good lead actress, despite obviously being dubbed by somebody else, but it is the Chiau-Ng chemistry that provides the film with it's spine.

The film is wilfully silly, even stupid in places, but perhaps not as absurd as some of his gags can be, meaning it is one of his more successful films overall. Of course the production values are not up to the standard of his recent self-directed films - but then it didn't take him 3 years to make it (in fact it was one of 3 films he made that year).

If you like some Stephen Chiau, and statistics say that you do... definitely a film to watch.

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 09/25/2004

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 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.

(review from www.hkfilm.net)


Reviewed by: pjshimmer
Date: 11/04/2002

In the 90s, a lot of talented martial artists were wasted in movies of different focuses. For example, Billy Chow is only in about 20 seconds (I guarentee this) of this movie.

Moving on, I would say this is an average Chow movie. It takes quite a while for the comedy to unfold.

The guy that you think will be the main villain is actually not the main villain, as the real main villain shows up later.

The best moments are the garfield mask fight and Ng Man Tat providing "psychological" help to Stephen Chow in the in-ring fight.

As usual, you can expect references to HK pop idols. This time, they refer to Jacky Cheung and Leon Lai.

[7/10]


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 03/07/2002
Summary: VEry funny!!

Stephen Chow plays a hero, who has no skills and Ng Man nat plays the the master who can't teach. Put in Christy Cheung as a leading lady and Ben Lam as a bad guy, you got a good movie.

I found this very funny. The action in this is good too. The best part is when Ben Lam shows us how good karate is and takes on the other martial arts master, and a very close second is the end fight sequence!!

A must watch if you like comedy!!

8/10

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: STSH
Date: 07/23/2001
Summary: One of Chow's best

... partly because he plays a nice guy, rather than his usual nasty egomaniac loumouth who gets cut down to size. Here's, he's a humble and kind man who only wants to help and, of course, to win the girl.

The only blight on this otherwise pretty good take on THE KARATE KID is one short sequence of toilet humour. Ugh.

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: Yellow Hammer
Date: 05/10/2001

Ho Kam An aka Ah An (Stephen Chow) is a delivery boy with a heart of gold, but a total wimp. During one of his delivery runs, he meets up with Lily (Christy Chung), who uses him to fend off the advances of the judo instructor Blackbear. But when Blackbear calls out Ah An, An cowardly runs away, something that Lily cannot tolerate. Ah An meets up with Tat (Ng Man-Tat), better known as Devil's Killer, a cripple who we later find out is a kung-fu master. Tat offers to teach Ah An kung fu, and a Garfield-masked An challenges Blackbear to a fight, which An wins. However, Lily's long-lost classmate and Japanese karate master Tuen Shui Lau (former Anita Mui beau Lam Kwok-Bun) claims to be the masked Garfield. Ah An then challenges Master Tuen to a death duel.

Stephen applies the formula that has made him so successful in other movies, a lovable underdog character combined with lots of left-field humor. This Lunar Year movie was a big hit in 1994.


Reviewed by: llm316
Date: 11/28/2000

This movie is one of Sing Jai's funniest movie, in order to get most of the jokes however, you have to be familiar with HK Kung fu Cinema as a whole, and be able to understand the references (which the english subs does a poor job of portraying). THe Final fight scene cracks me up everytime I see it, and also the two announcer reading off a porno novel is hillarious.

Chow plays a delivery boy who falls in love with the Martial Art school's prettiest girl, unfortunately, she somehow think of him as a wuss, and along came a poser Karate boy with some mean skillz (he litteraly beat up EVERYBODY) as a rival, thrown in an old man getting his ass kicked at a Jacky Cheung concert for endorsing Leon, and also some funky Kungfu references (heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber) and you got and insanely goofy movies that is throughly enjoyable, one of my all time favorite.

DId I mention garfield Mask thunder/fire wheel of death?


Reviewed by: grimes
Date: 04/09/2000

Stephen Chow plays a wuss of a delivery boy who falls in love with glamorous Christy Chung. But she only wants a courageous man. Stephen ends up learning kung fu from Ng Man-Tat, except that Ng Man-Tat is just scamming him. Anyway, the plot isn't too exciting but the jokes are pretty good.

I'd place it in the top 1/3 of Stephen Chow's films. For those of you who enjoy him, I'd highly recommend it. It had two of the funniest fight scenes I've ever seen. Unfortunately, there was also some uncomfortable "humor" with some of the women in the film, but nothing too awful. For those of you who don't enjoy him ... HOW could you not enjoy Stephen Chow?! It's incomprehensible. Ok, rant over.


Reviewed by: hkcinema
Date: 12/21/1999

A love triangle develops between a delivery boy a judo queen and her coach. Love jealousy and judo - a great combination for a series of wacky situations.

[Reviewed by Tai Seng Catalog]


Reviewed by: hktopten
Date: 12/21/1999

Based on a Japanese manga.


Reviewed by: kachun
Date: 12/09/1999

Stephen Chow plays Ho Kam An (or Ah An as he's often called in the film), a food delivery boy who is a coward and is constantly picked on, from customers to his co-workers to the practicing soccer players that he runs into. This is until he runs into Lily who he wants to impress; and "Devil Killer," a con artist-type who convinces Ah An that he can teach him kung fu (with a separate fee for each move), so Ah An can beat Blackbear, who is also after Lily. That's the basic plot of the movie, and then it goes off in weird directions and odd angles that include Ah An dressed up in a Garfield mask as a hooded hero, a hilarious Invincible Wind and Fire Wheel kung fu move, post modernistic pop references from _Terminator 2_ to Ultra- man to _The Karate Kid_ to (I swear I think this might be a reference) the sultan's organ using people instead of pipes from _The Adventures of Baron Munchausen_. There is quite a bit of nonsense humor in this one, which one can expect from Chow, but not all of the jokes work all of the time. Some you see coming from a long way off, such as the scene where "Devil Killer" asks Ah An to roll down a long flight of steps to get rid of him. On the whole though, the film is enjoyable, and although not as good as Chow's best, it's worth the effort if you're in a really silly mood.