Beverly Hills Ninja

"Oh Haru, we shouldn't."

Whilst childish in it's humour this movie is a classic from the late 90's, starring the late Chris Farley (Saturday Night Live) as the Great White Ninja, Haru.

Here's the movie poster.

Here's another image of Chris Farley as Haru.

At the time this movie came out Chris' star power was about as big as it was going to get. So was his weight.
Chris was known for making fun of his weight problem, and there are certainly scenes in this movie which play up on this.

One scene in particular, with Chris standing behind a shade cloth getting undressed for the evening still cracks me up.

A little point of trivia, it was only after seeing himself in this movie did Chris Farley decide to get serious about beating his weight and drug problem. Unfortunately 8 months later Chris would be found dead in his hotel suite, having died by accidental opiate/cocaine intoxication and coronary atherosclerosis.

But I digress.

This blog is about Beverly Hills Ninja, not Chris' death. If you'd like to read about Chris' death please go to the fantastic website, www.findadeath.com/ and do a search for Chris Farley. I often use the site to find out all interesting little facts about our favourite (and some not-so-favourite) celebrities.

Okay, so before she "made it big" as Edie Britt in Deseperate Housewifes, Nicollette Sheridan was starring here as Sally Jones and Allison Page.

I'll always remember Nicollette as "Sally? Sally Jones!" Haha.

For those of you interested in the plot, Allison Page has hooked up with Martin Tanley (Nathaniel Parker), a millionaire business she suspects has murdered her sister. Allison asks Haru to investigate Tanley's wheelings and dealings, with hilarious results.

As degreed by their Sensei, Gobei (Robin Shou) has been assigned to keep watch over Haru, much to Gobei's sufferance.

Robin Shou's other claim to fame for the 90's was starring as Lui Kang in Mortal Kombat, and 2 years later in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.
Robin appears in the 2009 film, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which I find a little odd.

Anyway....
Gobei has some funny scenes in this movie, and does a very good job as Haru's brother.

Apart from the comedy and sight-gags in this movie, another big plus going for it is the soundtrack.

Kung Fu Fighting, by Patti Rothberg, and again by Carl Douglas.
One Way Or Another, by Blondie.

Turning Japanese, by The Hazies.

Coupled with I'm Too Sexy, by Right Said Fred. This movie must be the pinnacle of soundtracks for the 90's.

I own the soundtrack and often listen to it in the car.

It also has some of the one-liners from the movie, which are still funny to this day.

"The blackness of my belt is like the inside of a coffin on a moonless night." Hilarious.

Rounding out the comedy in perfect form is Chris Rock playing the bellboy, Joey. Chris is only in a handful of scenes but he certainly makes them work.
Sure, he spends most of his time trying to chock the chicken, but have a watch of the movie and tell me you didn't laugh.

I sure did.

Here's the movie trailer;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-x5avG0T2U

To purchase the DVD, please do so here

Beverly Hills Ninja

To purchase the soundtrack, please do so here

Beverly Hills Ninja: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Another side note of trivia. By the release of this movie Chris was becoming bored with the comedic angle of his career and wanted to appear in something more dramatic. Word is he was developing a project around the life and times of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.

For those of you who don't know who Fatty Arbuckle was, I ask you to please refer again to the always entertaining www.findadeath.com/

I should warn you, some entries on the site contain death photos of celebrities. Chris' in particular springs to mind. So if you don't want to remember celebrities as they were last seen (and I've seen Chris' photos), just read the info but don't click on the photo links.

Argh, again I diverge from the movie.

What can I say? I just really dig the findadeath website.

Okay, so for a star rating I'll give this a 7 1/2 out of 10. There were a few scenes I didn't like, such as the meditation scenes as I felt they got a bit smoochy and lovey-dovey.

But if you're in the mood for some silly fun, you can't go past Beverly Hills Ninja.

What did you think of this review? Please comment, or email me directly at mgbouw@yahoo.com.au