Forbidden City Cop

Stephen Chow’s period piece sort-of James Bond parody is about as silly as you’d expect, and just as fun.

 “What even is this?”

What even is this, indeed. It’s a thought I have whenever I see any Stephen Chow film. Even when I’m prepared it manages to throw me off with an unusual opening scene, a weird character quirk or a completely out-of-nowhere joke. Forbidden City Cop, for example, opens with this long and complex mythology involving a Flying Faerie sword, and four powerful but quite old and ugly legendary swordsmen meeting on the roof of the palace to decide who is the strongest.

It’s a weird, fun opening that has close to nothing to do with the rest of the story. From there, imperial guard Ling Ling-fat (Chow) shows up and tries to arrest them for causing a scene. He manages to confiscate their powerful Flying Faerie Technique book, and then the film finally gets to begin.

Of the emperor’s guards, Fat is easily the worst. His martial prowess is embarrassing, and his contributions usually come in the form of a goofy weapon he’s invented, such as a mouth cannon you need lips of steel to operate. The emperor is not impressed by him, and he is not invited to join the emperor and the guards to a supposed autopsy of the Flying Faerie. This is a ruse by the Kam Clan, however, who plan to kill the Emperor. Thankfully Fat, who is also a part-time doctor and is interested in the science, shows up to save the day.  And things just sort of continue in that vein for a while. A second story involves the emperor asking Fat to investigate a prostitute (Carman Lee) he wants to add to his concubines, which naturally causes an issue between Fat and his wife (Carina Lau).

In Forbidden City Cop, Chow is in top form, writing a comedy that is not only consistently funny, but also one that’s genuinely quite touching in places. While some of his previous films have come across as a bit aggressive and desperate for laughs, Forbidden City Cop lets the humour speak for itself, and combines absurd punchlines, loose parody and some silly (but never over the top) performances to make a film that’s as manic as the rest of them, but more often than not also balanced with more wholesome scenes.

Those standout moments are the many scenes he shares with Lau. The two of them have such a cute chemistry and the characters love each other dearly, it’s quite rare to see in these sorts of comedy. Typically many of the shenanigans would revolve around the main character trying to win the heart of some barely developed love interest, but Fat is astonishingly content in his married life, and in fact seems to love his wife more than just about anything else. With this strong foundation, these two characters are able to bounce off each other and the humour is elevated thanks to that.

As for the plot, well, there’s a story, but it’s largely irrelevant and there mostly in service of the jokes. There are villains, sure, and the Faceless King and his minions are genuinely creepy, which only adds to the movie’s chaotic nature. The film ratchets the silliness up to eleven, and has so much fun with it. It’s the most fun I’ve had with a Stephen Chow film in forever. And really, what more do you want?

Verdict: One of Chow’s more entertaining 90s comedies, Forbidden City Cop is exactly the movie you think it’ll be, but that’s not a bad thing.

Overall entertainment: 7.5/10
Violence: 4/10
Sex: 1/10
Subtitles: Aggressively British for some reason
Discoveries: Weed, Robitussin.
Best inventions: The sex machine (with gear box), but I love the simplicity of the battleship grid itchy back shirt.

Forbidden City Cop (1996)
Also known as: 大內密探零零發; literal translation: “Imperial Secret Agent 008”
Cantonese

Directors: Vincent Kok, Stephen Chow
Writers: Vincent Kok, Stephen Chow, Edmund Liu

CAST
Stephen Chow – Ling Ling-fat
Carina Lau – Ling Ka-ting
Carman Lee – Kam Cho
Cheung Tat-ming – Emperor
Law Kar-ying – Fat Yan
Tats Lau – Forbidden City cop
Lee Lik-chi – Court official
Wong Yat-fei – Yip Ku-sing