Le ninja de Beverly Hills

"Are you communicating with me?" - Haru. As I watch this movie as an adult I recall how I felt as a child watching this movie on long road trips, and the laughs are still there. I know this movie is a pretty flimsy comedy, but Chris Farley plays a dense ninja so well. It's a fun movie with plenty of laughs and it does have some really corny moments, but it's alright I'll forgive it since Chris Farley has such great physical comedy.

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.

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.

The kind of film which throws jokes at you by the second in the hope that some will stick, this film is funny make no mistake. Chris Farley had his 'bumbling fat bloke' routine down to a tee after excursions in Tommy Boy, Black Sheep and Airheads and this is same type of daft humour. Not brilliant by any means but is worth watching for a giggle if you can find the time.