Beverly Hills Ninja

It could be a comedy like many others. Chris Farley performance does the difference. His acting, used by a good script, fascination of Orient and the love story, the rivalry and the kicks inspired used are the good points of this lovely film who gives many, serious occasions of laughing and fascinating easy trip in exotic universe.

So, Chris Farley. As basic motif for not ignore Beverly Hills Ninja.

It is undeniable in saying that Chris Farley has a presence on the big screen. He offers another gem of a performance in this one.

He was found on a stormy night be Sensei and was named "Haru", the prophisized "Great White Ninja". The beginning of the film shows him training to be a ninja, with such funny stunts as him trying to lift a burning cauldron with his open forearms, spilling it all over the others. On the day of truth, he is not selected to graduate and become a ninja.

The plot of the story is simply this - He is proposed by Allison Page to help her in a steal mission against a "counterfeiter". Not all goes to plan when he witnesses a killing. He uses the matchbook that Allison gave him to determine that he must go to Beverly Hills in her aid.

Little things like Farley leaving his shoes at the door of the hotel everytime he enters (and the janitor sweeping them up everytime) shows his native roots. The director was great at adding such small but noticeable tendencies to make it more realistic.

Farley walks around looking for Allison dressed as a pimp - he is supposed to blend in with the locals - but that is not a good way to do it. All the while Gobbei, the best ninja declared by Sensei can be seen on the otherhand with his face painted to look like he is part of a statue. Throughout the movie he helps Haru and is his "shadow" to make sure he succeeds in his mission without Haru knowing he is being helped.

Now forget the plot, it isn't going to win any awards. The meat of the film - what you really are there to see is Chris Farley pull off his hijinx. Funny scenes such as when he is in a Beverly Hills strip joint and he is up on stage and sees a hot stripper, he shakes his fists and says repeatedly "I am one with the universe, I am one with the universe" as a ninja SHOULD be, but he cannot resist her and starts dancing along side her, comically rubbing his nipples and then revealing his tight white undershirt which he attempts to rip. The crowd of men, all the while are cheering for him and he falls off the stage flat on his back breaking a table and is thrown out by the bouncers. Then when two men are shot out the buildings window by Tanley's goons and land by the garbage where "Haru" has been pushed, an Asian ladies repeatedly screams out the window which is classic and made me laugh. Another great scene is when Farley staying on his quest to help foil Tanley's plan, goes in disguise into a Japanese restaurant as a sushi cook person. This is the funniest point in the film and involves Farley flipping a shrimp down a woman's dress and he pulls it from her breasts, sniffing it and making some sort of funny comment. The final funny scenes is his pretending to be the money printing guy - I won't go into much but this was the best part of the movie and near the end too.

I like the soundtrack, from "I'm too sexy" to "Kung Fu Fighting", it was great.

We see little of Chris Rock in this movie, a hotel employee who wants to learn how to become a ninja like Haru, and chases chickens to learn. It was Farley's spotlight and so deserved. Farley R.I.P.

My Rating : 7/10

Chris Farley is funny as hell as Haru the orphan ninja!

Some mindless entertainment when you just want to chill. Greatly recommended.

Please forgive the length of this first paragraph, but it is needed to explain my opinion of this film. I never saw this film in the theater; it looked a little silly to me. One day a few months later it came on pay-per-view. Due to a technical glitch the cable company unscrambled the pay-per-view channels all day long. It also happened to be raining and generally miserable out, so my buddies and I decided to watch this movie. We had three pay-per-view channels, and one of the channels showed a single movie all day long. Guess which movie it was.

The first time we watched it, we thought it was goofy, even stupid, and didn't really care for it. However like many teens, we mindlessly watched it again . . . and again . . . and again. We watched this film all day. "Why?" you ask; because it truly gets better every time you watch it.

I think the reason is because this is a stupid film, and when you first watch it, you're too smart for it. Eventually though the IQ points seep out of your head, and you're able to fully enjoy this great movie.

The bottom line: Watch this film at least 5 times, not necessarily back-to-back but it helps. It will grow on you. Even if you don't like Farley, watch this film for Chris Rock. Rock's performance is perfect, despite being too small of a role. Farley's performance is perfect as the bumbling but good-hearted "Great White Ninja." Even the chicken's performance is perfect. If you find the concept of a fat, white ninja involved in an Asian gang war mildly provocative, check your brain at the door and enjoy.

Chris Farley's first starring vehicle without his frequent costar David Spade suffers from not giving Farley a suitable replacement costarring foil. Nicolette Sheridan has a practically no nonsense role as an elusive woman who goes to Japan and hires American ninja Farley to secretly spy on her boyfriend (Nathaniel Parker) who she suspects may have killed her sister. Farley's knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time gets him accused of murder twice. He has to try to clear his name while taking on the real murderers. Robin Shou and Chris Rock have fairly amusing costarring roles but the film's biggest laughs come from Farley's actual attempts at perfecting martial arts.