Kung Fu Hustle
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: April 8, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
34
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Chow's savagely funny cinematic love letter places Hong Kong legends Yuen Wah, Leung Siu Lung and former Bond girl Yuen Qiu in well-cast pivotal parts, establishing Kung Fu Hustle not only as an endearing homage to a genre's history, but an astonishing piece of cinema in its own right. Read full review
100
Film ThreatPhil Hall
Kung Fu Hustle is something you rarely encounter in theaters: a genuinely original comedy. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterAndrew Sun
With a delirious mix of the sublime and the silly, Hong Kong comedy king Stephen Chow Sing-chi has taken the kung fu comedy genre to new heights of chop-socky hilarity. Read full review
100
L.A. WeeklyDavid Chute
The movie refers glancingly to dozens of Hollywood classics, from "West Side Story" to "City Lights," but at heart it is a debt of honor richly paid by Stephen Chow to his martial-arts forebears and to the traditions that shaped his sensibility. His gong fu is the best. Read full review
100
TimeRichard Corliss
Moviemaking doesn't get much smarter, funnier, handsomer, better than this. Read full review
100
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
It's a short, sharp, shock to the cinematic system that's virtually impossible to dislike, and if you don't leave the theatre grinning your face off, then buddy, movies just aren't for you. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
All of Kung Fu Hustle is like that: You don't just watch it, you ride with it, laughing all the way. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
It's a visual feast that only a crack director could provide, and it's mounted within a story and setting that, played utterly straight, might still have made a good movie. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Brilliantly choreographed and shot, Kung Fu Hustle is often grisly, visually spectacular and unabashedly silly, sometimes all at once. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Gut-Bustingly funny moves are pretty rare, so hustle over to Kung Fu Hustle, actor-director Ste phen Chow's exhilaratingly hilarious and affectionate send-up of Hong Kong action flicks. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Raymond Wong, who has become Chow's favorite composer, iced this cake with music that sounds like Beethoven, Henry Mancini's jazz and all the James Bond themes run together in a blender. Read full review
88
PremiereAaron Hillis
Guaranteed to deliver more innovative eye candy and smarter fun-per-second than most of this summer's fare, and that one-two punch ought to knock you off your seat. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
In a farce like this, where the story is merely a string of martial-arts movie cliches lined up to be parodied, that has its own rewards. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
Half-amazing, half-ridiculous, thoroughly exhilarating. Read full review
80
The A.V. ClubTasha Robinson
Its crowd-pleasing, action-packed brand of frenetic parody promises to spread Chow's mythos even further. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Chow manages to have his cake and eat it too: Kung Fu Hustle is a kung fu parody that's also a terrific kung fu movie. Read full review
80
NewsweekDavid Ansen
Defies all laws of gravity in its pursuit of thrills and laughs—and it's so disarmingly eager to please that only a stone-faced kung fu purist could object. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
The inspiration appears to be equal parts "Looney Tunes" and Capcom video games like "Street Fighter II." All the energy that was missing from the recent "Mask" sequel is here, and then some. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It won't be long before you feel the compulsion to watch again. There is too much to appreciate in one sitting. Read full review
80
EmpireSimon Crook
Kung Fu Hustle pummels "The Matrix" trilogy into a puddle. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Viewers will discover that the film has something to offer nearly everyone, whether they are a novice or a black belt in kung fu cinema. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Does the plot spin out of control? You bet. But dumb fun this smart is a gift. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
For all its excitement Kung Fu Hustle is mostly a marvel of comedic ingenuity and mile-a-minute creativity run wild. You've never seen anything like it. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Hustle's approach to a simple good-vs.-evil plot is eccentrically exuberant. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Kung Fu Hustle is to "House of Flying Daggers" what "Blazing Saddles" is to "Unforgiven." Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Like a meal prepared by an extreme chef, ''Hustle" is more than a bit of a mess. It still tastes like nothing you've ever had before. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is the kind of movie where you laugh occasionally and have a silly grin most of the rest of the time. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
Vivid and madcap but fails to connect on any emotional level. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
A celebration of Hong Kong action cinema that mocks gravity, both emotional and physical. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
For all its punches, kicks, whacks and thumps, the movie does not have much impact, and for all its affectionate nostalgia, it produces a strange kind of amnesia. It knocks the sense right out of your head, and its own as well. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Chow depends way too much on jokey computer graphics that make the whole thing feel like a superhero comic, instead of athleticism or charisma or good storytelling, and that Kung Fu Hustle wears itself out long before it's over. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
At times, the picture evokes such stylized musicals as "The Band Wagon"; at others, it seems to whirr every kung-fu movie ever made into the most luscious action smoothie you'll ever imbibe. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderKevin B. Lee
Chow's newfound patience and attentiveness to stasis, tinged with nostalgia, are promising indications of where he's taking his art as he attempts to influence the commercial cinema that's long influenced him. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The upside: Chow has energy and invention to burn. The downside: He doesn't know when he blisters his audience. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A giant leap forward in Stephen Chow's ongoing assault on Jackie Chan's status as reigning balletic clown-master of martial-arts mayhem, this extravagantly nutty crime comedy is a work of some kind of genius. Not everybody's kind of genius, to be sure. Read full review
50
VarietyDerek Elley
Devoid of genuine inspiration or involving character development. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The overly broad martial-arts comedy Kung Fu Hustle was obviously made with skill and affection for its many cinematic sources, yet I found the tone, timing and emotional involvement off by just enough to irritate rather than enchant. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
For all its stylishness, verve and moments of visual poetry, the relentlessly punishing slapstick and overall cruel tone left me cold. Read full review
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