Oh man - boy am I happy to bring you something good for today’s Funtastic Friday, “Shaolin Soccer”. The name reminded me of a Bend It Like Beckham knock off or one of those Disney “Johnny Tsunami” kind of films, but I was happily mistaken.

“Shaolin Soccer” falls into the slapstick genre of kung-fu. A mixture of “The Big Green”, “The Matrix” and “Kung Pow: Enter the Fist”… but a little less South Park. The stunts were great, the jokes were well executed and the film relies on sarcasm or exaggeration for it’s delivery which is one of my favorites.

“Shaolin Soccer” follows an out of work Kung Fu master hoping for a Kung Fu reformation but he can’t find the hook to make it popular again. He has the “Steel Leg” which an injured drunkard by the name of “Golden Leg” discovers and decides that they can kill two birds with one stone by starting a soccer team. I can’t tell you how much fun this film was… you’ll just have to trust me on this and give it a go.

[STATUS REPORT]

BROAD vs. NICHE - I place this in the more broad area of film. Anyone can enjoy this movie. It’s a comedy film that gets its laughs from silly situations and exaggerated outcomes. No foul humor and no weird sex jokes. My kind of film.

WATCHABILITY - Easy. Something new and goofy is always happening. The characters are these wild kung fu heroes with borderline super powers which offers an “anything goes” feel to the movie. You may find a brief lull here and there but they had to include a story somewhere.

WHEN TO WATCH - This is a late night movie for sure. Not because of it’s vulgar or anything, but because you’ll want to have gotten everything else done and out of the way so that you can just sit down and have a laugh with no interruptions. I think this is the kind of movie your friends will enjoy as well. Highly recommended.