Kung Pow: Enter the Fist

Have you ever rented a bad kung-fu movie and invited a bunch of friends over to throw popcorn at the TV? Now imagine paying to sit in the back of someone else's living room and watch him do the same thing with his friends--who aren't any funnier than yours. That's what watching Kung Pow: Enter the Fist feels like. Of course, writer-director Steve Oedekerk (Ace Ventura 2) invited all his friends to a sound studio so they could re-dub the movie using silly dialogue and silly voices intentionally out of sync, and he also had a special effects budget, so he was able to re-edit 1976's Tiger and Crane Fists and CGI himself into the story as the "Chosen One"--a suspiciously Caucasian, slapstick martial arts hero sporting a bowl-cut wig. But even with such high-tech enhancements, at the heart of this spoof is the kind of mildly amusing, haphazard creativity that just about anybody is capable of if they have a VCR, a childish attitude and enough beer. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include chatty menu guides, commentary from writer/director/producer Steve Oedekirk, two alternate audio tracks ("What They Were Really Saying" and the "Long-Lost Book-on-Tape" version), a five-minute behind-the-scenes featurette, 12 deleted scenes, a brief tribute to character "Tonguey," three sections of visual effects comparisons (including before and after cow effects) and six scenes with alternate dialogue. Bottom line: A suitably silly set of extras for a rather lame film.] (R. Blackwelder)