Richie Ren, Barbie Hsu, Nat Chan Bak-Cheung, Law Kar-Ying, Bruce Leung Siu-Lung, Huo Siyan, Pan Chang-Jiang, Gong Xinliang, Chen Zhi-Hui, Chiu Chi-Ling, Lin Wei, Wu Ma, He Yunwei, Liu Ya-Jin, Fung Hak-On, Vincent Kok Tak-Chiu, Huang Xiaoming, Zhou Libo

So who stars here? It’s Richie Jen, who’s actually a pretty decent actor, as seen in his work with Johnnie To and Dante Lam. He’s got low-key comic charm, is very self-effacing, and doesn’t usually overact, so he’s a good fit for Zhu Zhengde, the layabout Emperor who wants to experience life outside the palace because life inside is just too boring. Also, his mother (Fu Yiwei) keeps fixing him up with ugly potential brides, which isn't making him want to hang around home. Zhu hits the road with his three advisors (including Law Kar-Ying and Bruce Leung), who try to keep him out of trouble but do a fabulously lousy job. After an ill-advised gambling binge, the whole group gets separated and Zhu ends up with amnesia.

Luckily Zhu meets fiery, charitable Phoenix (Barbie Hsu), who feeds the poor with leftover noodles from her business, the Lung Fung (“Dragon Phoenix”) Inn, which she runs along with her wacky, borderline insane staff. Her brother (Pan Chang-Jiang) is in massive debt, so Phoenix offers to pay the full amount rather than lose her inn as collateral. Zhu doesn’t really remember who he is – and takes on the name Lee Siu-Lung (a.k.a. Bruce Lee) in the meantime -- but he does remember eating lots of great food, and he uses that knowledge to develop tasty new dishes for the inn. Bingo, business booms, but not without consequences. People start wanting a piece of their new business, and there’s still the matter of Zhu’s evil uncle (Lin Wei), who’s looking to usurp the throne in his absence.

Despite the above plot, little to zero tension exists in Adventure of the King. This is just standard commercial fluff, meaning it’s wall-to-wall wackiness and filler, with occasional bursts of action courtesy of Bruce Leung. Director Chung Shu-Kai handles things in a workmanlike fashion, neglecting story in favor of gags and canned romance. The film moves along briskly thanks to its egregiously choppy editing, which allows few pauses for even laughs to sink in. Making matters worse is the completely obnoxious music score, which is overbearing, ill-fitting and steals liberally from Hawaii Five-O and even Chinastar’s own God of Gamblers. The jokes are hit-and-miss, with overacting and labored sitcom setups stretching things out incredibly. Those who find little enjoyment for this sort of star-driven screwiness won’t become fans thanks to Adventure of the King. As usual, affection or simply a mild tolerance for sloppy populist filmmaking is necessary to even get in the door.

But hey, there are plusses! Some of the anachronistic gags are amusing, including one about an ancient Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise run by Wa Ma in a Colonel Sanders get-up. Law Kar-Ying is funny as the royal historian, the cameos by the Flirting Scholar 2 crew are amusing (Richie Jen even does double duty, turning up as his character from that film), and some of the supporting actors are effective, if not recognizable to the Hong Kong Cinema faithful because they’re mostly from the mainland. Also, the filmmakers manage some fun with hackneyed but welcome plot twists at the end that make the whole film seem better planned than it probably was. The climax also gives Richie Jen and Barbie Hsu a chance to amp their acting, and they do a fine job despite treating the material with a gravity that it doesn’t really deserve. Overall, it’s hard to recommend Adventure of the King, but it’s hard to really slam it. This genre has certainly churned out worse, and hey, it’s better than Flirting Scholar 2. For simply achieving that, we should already be thankful. (Kozo 2010)

image credit: www.g-film.com