Mo jong yuen So Hak Yee (1992)

Mo jong yuen So Hak Yee: Directed by Gordon Chan. With Stephen Chow, Man Cheung, Man-Tat Ng, Norman Chu. The spoilt son of a millionaire finds the love of his life, but she will only accept him if he proves himself as a kung-fu master. He enters and wins the “Kung-Fu Scholar” tournament, little realizing that this victory will lead to him becoming penniless, homeless and sleepy. One day, while sleeping under a tree, he encounters a beggar he helped when he was still rich.

“Something of a departure for Stephen Chow, as he drops the zany over-the-top humour of his more well known comedies to play a real legendary figure, So-Hat-Yi a.k.a the u0026quot;King of Beggarsu0026quot;. Although you wouldnu0026#39;t notice its not supposed to be a typical Chow comedy until well into the second half, because the convoluted, meandering story allows Chow to do all his usual comedy gimmicks before turning into a more serious historical action adventure.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere is plenty to admire here: a fun cameo from directing legend Yuen Woo Ping, the u0026quot;sleeping fistu0026quot; kung-fu style, some well mounted large-scale battle scenes, and the usual fantastical action sequences typical to the fantasy/swordplay genre.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUnfortunately, its all a bit baffling, the plot is uninvolving, and its all rather inconsistent in tone (one minute Chow is a bumbling idiot, the next heu0026#39;s a stoic hero).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWorth a look, particularly if you prefer martial arts to comedy, but not Stephen Chowu0026#39;s best.”