The Chef, the Actor and the Scoundrel

Filmmaker Hu Guan's WWII farce begins with two Japanese stagecoach passengers in occupied China—members of a notorious germ warfare unit—being captured by a bandit (Huang Bo) dressed like an American cowboy. The desperado takes the pair to a restaurant run by a craven collaborator chef (Liu Ye) and his moronic, mute wife (Liang Jing). Along with a Peking Opera actor (Zhang Hanyu), the Chinese squabble about how to ransom their hostages for the most money. Flashbacks disclose that the buffoonish captors are actually brilliant resistance-fighters and microbiologists. By role-playing as greedy imbeciles—which is how the Japanese view the Chinese—they hope to trick the enemy into revealing a vital cholera vaccine. Unfortunately, when the story takes jagged detours into action-patriotic territory (our Mandarin heroes start tearing into the Japanese legions Rambo style, with much CGI blood), the viewer starts feeling a bit like a sense-battered POW (and the film seems to have at least two epilogues too many). Still, with its madcap pace and goofy sensibility, this is often entertaining. A strong optional purchase. (C. Cassady)