BEVERLY HILLS NINJA
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) ** out of ***** - Cast:Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Chris Rock. Writers:Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff. Director: Dennis Dugan.
Director Dugan's previous film "Happy Gilmore" was basically a one-joke film, but with bite to it thanks to Adam Sandler and the on-the-edge character that he played. "Beverly Hills Ninja" is also a one-joke film, but the joke is presented in the first minute of the film and then is beaten to death for another 90 minutes.
Chris Farley ("Tommy Boy") again plays a big klutz, thankfully he knows his range and won't try to stretch beyond his abilities. This time out he's an orphan who was discovered by a group of ninjas who take him into their care and raise him according to their ways. They believe him to be "The Great White Ninja", an ancient legend of the ninja. One day, all the ninjas go out on a mission and leave him behind, because he's so inept. While causing mass destruction just hanging around at his home, a damsel in distress (Sheridan) comes to hire a ninja. (Boy, this really seems ridiculous as I write it, and you know they didn't pitch any of the actual story to the studio. I'm sure all they said was "It's Chris Farley as a clumsy ninja! Huh? How about that? 100 million easy!").
Well, Sheridan's appearance causes Farley to follow her to Beverly Hills, California (Get it? Beverly Hills Ninja? It's funny!). Once there, it's another "fish-out-of-water" story of sorts, as Farley gets to discover all the wonders of America (basically just hotels and strip clubs). He meets up with a bellboy (Rock, in an annoying performance) and they search for whatever it is that is supposed to be going on at this point. All I can tell you is that Chris Farley gets hurt a lot, and that's supposed to be funny.
"Beverly Hills Ninja" (along with last year's "Black Sheep") proves why "Tommy Boy" worked as a comedy. "Tommy Boy" was funny because Farley is doing his schtick, but someone is there to make fun of it. That's what's funny, making fun of the idiot. Here, Farley does his schtick, and that's it. Farley's antics, by themselves, are just not funny. His character is nothing but yet another rip-off of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau character, but without one ounce of intelligence.
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office reports, film related links, and reader's polls and reviews.
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