BEVERLY HILLS NINJA
A film review by Walter Frith
Copyright 1997 Walter Frith
What do you get when you cross repetitive slapstick and wooden direction? Enough to fill a five minute skit. Unfortunately 'Beverly Hills Ninja' runs an excruciating eighty eight minutes and its bad qualities and juvenile antics are visible in the first few minutes which dominate the entire film. Chris Farley stars as a ninja wannabe who becomes involved with a sexy girl and a counterfeiting plot and ends up on a journey from his Asian home to Beverly Hills, California where he travels to follow up on a job he's performed for the beautiful Nicolette Sheridan who plays the girlfriend of the movie's bad guy who's really out to set him up as revenge for the death of her sister. Chris Farley has appeared in supporting roles in 'Coneheads' and 'Wayne's World 2' (both 1993) and has since had leading roles co-starring with fellow SNL comedian David Spade in 'Tommy Boy' (1995) and 'Black Sheep' (1996). 'Beverly Hills Ninja' will be remembered as one of the worst films of 1997 and perhaps of all time as Farley projects a fake wisdom of the ninja culture in his dialogue while coming off as phony and unfunny. He just doesn't have it as a slapstick comic and the entire movie runs like a single handedly played out Three Stooges skit. The plot holes and unresolved conclusion will satisy anyone under the age of 12 and that's fine but is that the extend of Farley's reach as a comedian? The repetitive and outrageously insulting so called gags in 'Beverly Hills Ninja' will not do much for the career of director Dennis Dugan who made 'Problem Child' (1990) and the people who will cheer for this movie will be those who felt that 'Tommy Boy' and 'Black Sheep' were stiffed at the Academy Awards.
OUT OF 5> zero
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