King of Comedy (1999 film)

Infobox Film
name = King of Comedy

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image_size = 250px
caption = "King of Comedy"
director = Stephen Chow
Lee Lik-Chi
producer =
writer = Stephen Chow
Min-hang Fung
narrator =
starring = Stephen Chow
Karen Mok
Ng Man Tat
Cecilia Cheung
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = flagicon|Hong Kong 1999
runtime =
country = Hong Kong
language = Cantonese, Mandarin
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0188766

"King of Comedy" (zh-t|t=喜劇之王) is a 1999 Hong Kong comedy film directed by Lee Lik-Chi and Stephen Chow. Unlike a typical Stephen Chow film，"King of Comedy" uses less of his Mo lei tau-style comedy, and the main theme is also controversial--the film describes the tragedy that a professional actor cannot become successful due to the culture of superstars in film industry. Some commentators say the story is based on Stephen Chow's career in early age, because Stephen Chow was only a temporary actor while he started to enter the film industry, spending over 10 years time to be a successful and popular comedy actor.Fact|date=April 2008

Plot

Wan Tin-Sau (Chow) is an actor who cannot seem to catch a break, since his only professional jobs are limited to being a movie extra. As well as being an actor, he is also the head of his village's community centre.

One day a group of club girls come to ask Wan to help them act like innocent schoolgirls so they can make more money. One of the girls, Lau Piu-Piu (Cecilia Cheung), although a little hardy at first, becomes a better actress through Wan's instruction and falls in love with him. When both characters finally make love, Wan searches his home for enough money to pay Piu-piu for her "services", since he thinks she slept with him for money (not knowing it was for love). After Piu-piu leaves him in anger, he goes back to the film studio where he always harasses crew members for a role, and finally hits the big time, receiving a secondary lead part next to a legendary actress, Sister Cuckoo (Karen Mok). During this time, Wan reconciles with Piu-piu and he pledges to support her for the rest of his life.

Just as Wan is about to settle in the life of a movie star, his dreams of grandeur are crushed when his part is given to a highly sought after male lead because Sister Cuckoo was jealous of his relationship with Piu-piu. Luckily, he regains his confidence with the help of the misanthropic lunchman at the studio (Ng Man Tat), who is secretly a C.I.B. agent. Wan is used in an undercover operation, where he is disguised as a delivery boy and made to deliver a hidden gun and listening device inside Take-out food. Although the ruse is discovered and the lunchman is shot, Wan takes up the gun and saves the day. The lunchman is rushed to the hospital and survives his wounds.

After a somewhat successful sting, Wan finally becomes famous through a performance of the "Thunder Storm", a stage production based on the Bruce Lee movie "Jing Wu Men". The actors include Piu-piu, Sister Cuckoo, and his wanna-be Triad students. The end of the film involves a blatant marketing plug for Pringles brand potato chips. The entire cast of the play stands backstage rehearsing their lines while literally stuffing their mouths full of Pringles, with the logos of all five cans clearly facing towards the camera. At one point, Wan and one of his triad students argues over who should play the role of Bruce Lee's character, when another actor screams "don't fight, eat chips!" When the closing credits role, a quick Pringles advertisement appears on the screen.

Box Office

It grossed HK $29,848,860 in Hong Kong.

Trivia

*Jackie Chan who made a guest cameo appearance, started out as a movie extra in reality (usually as a bad guy being killed in less than a few seconds screen time). In Enter the Dragon, for example, he appears briefly in a scene where Bruce Lee snaps his character's neck.

Cast

* Stephen Chow as Wan Tin-Sau
* Karen Mok as Sister Cuckoo
* Cecilia Cheung as Lau Piu-Piu
* Ng Man-Tat
* Jackie Chan (cameo)

ee also

*Stephen Chow filmography
*Jackie Chan filmography

External links

* [http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/king_of_comedy.htm Review on lovehkfilm.com]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188766/ IMDB entry]