Star Chow is about to be kicked out of the Royal Hong Kong Police's elite Special Duties Unit. But a senior officer decides to give him one last chance: Star must go undercover as a student at the Edinburgh High School in Hong Kong to recover the senior officer's missing revolver.
Similar titles
Reviews
In this action comedy, Stephen Chow stars as SWAT team leader Detective Sing Chow, who goes undercover at a high school to retrieve a stolen gun for the Commissioner.As with many of Stephen Chow's films, this one has no shortage of slapstick humor and ridiculous action-comedy. Chow proves he could do action as well when he tries to deal with the ammunition smugglers when they raid the school and hold a group of students hostage. In the mist of all the mayhem is a touch of romantic humor courtesy of Sing's affection with school official Miss Ho (Sharla Cheung).A little goofy here and there, but this is a pretty good film and is rather entertaining.Grade B
I liked this film, but I have to say that something about it is lost in the translation. Or so I have to assume because it's a very popular movie in China, with several sequels I believe, while watching it with subtitles it was only occasionally amusing. But there were some laugh out loud moments, and I assume that it has a lot more humor that I just can't access because of the language barrier.Chow plays Star Chow, a rookie cop who's sent to a school undercover to find a cop's missing handgun -- sort of like "Stray Dog" meets "21 Jump Street." He's an excellent fighter, but not a natural leader, so his school experiences basically serve to make him understand the value of working together with others to accomplish a common goal. He also falls in love with a pretty schoolteacher who takes an interest in him (Sharla Cheung), and befriends an eccentric janitor/spy (Man Tat Ng -- Chow's coach in his more famous later film "Shaolin Soccer").The chemistry between all the leads is excellent. The school fight scenes have some of the same flavour as Chow's later film "CJ7." Chow himself is very funny with his deadpan expressions and so forth. But this film lacks some of the visual nuance of his own directorial efforts, or of some of his later films with Vincent Kok. It lacks resonance and becomes just a diversion. But not a bad one at that.
One of the best Stephen Chow movies. Although it lacks the polish and CGI of his latest efforts, "Shaolin Soccer" and "Kung Fu Hustle," this movie is still hugely entertaining and essential viewing, especially if you like Chow's special brand of "moleitau" (nonsense humor).Chow plays Star Chow, a cop who goes undercover as a student in order to find a missing gun. He is understandably annoyed, shouting at his senior, "I wanted to be a cop so I didn't have to go to school anymore!" He gets to display a huge range of hilarious, ticked-off expressions. Plot is thin, but who cares: after all, this movie is just a stage for Chow to show off his impeccable comic timing, slapstick, and nonsense humor. The familiar supporting cast is also strong.Chow has to deal with a myriad of things as an undercover at school: professors that throw chalkboard erasers at him, student gangs and cliques, homework, tests, girls, etc. This is great comic material and Chow rises to the occasion admirably. There's a hilarious scene where he cheats on his Chinese history test by calling up the police station and asking the chief to give him the answers. Other hilarious scenes include him failing to turn in his homework and being subject to public humiliation, fitting in with his classmates, dealing with an absent-minded science professor, and developing a crush on one of his teachers.Compared the "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Shaolin Soccer," this movie is less accessible to Western audiences because of the abundance of verbal comedy. It is still a very funny movie with tons of slapstick, but it's even funnier if you understand Cantonese because a lot of the comedy comes from Cantonese slang and Chow's intonation. However, I've shown this movie to friends who don't understand Cantonese at all and they have all loved it.Bottom line: One of Chow's best. This movie is a good example of why audiences love Chow and why he was one of the biggest HK box-office draws in the 90s (he still is a big box office draw). He oozes winning charisma and charm. Laugh-out-loud funny. Highly recommended.
Fight Back To School (1991) was a hilarious comedy that starred Stephen Chow as a cop who goes undercover at a local high school. His assignment? Find the Captain's (Barry Wong) favorite hand gun. He lost it and believes that someone in the high school might know the whereabouts of it. Being a man in his late twenties, he has to convince the head master (Dennis Chan) that he's a seventeen year old kid. Whilst at school, he develops a rush on a teach (the ever hot Cheung Man) an befriends a lovable nerd (Gabriel Wong) and his crew of misfits.Will Star Chow fend of the strict Miss Leung (Yuen King-Tan)? Confront the shady Brother Teddy (Roy Cheung) about the missing gun? Does he discover something more than a simple robbery case? To find out you have to watch FIGHT BACK TO SCHOOL. A highly enjoyable comedy that'll tickle your funny bone!Highly recommended.