Netflix Just Added a Whole Trilogy of Weird, Hilarious Stephen Chow Comedies

One of the most annoying and insidious things about Netflix is the way its recommendation “algorithm” pushes everybody to watch the same stuff. Last week, it was Insatiable; this week, it’s Disenchantment.

And if you just shrug and hit play, there’s a good chance you’ll miss a lot of the better, weirder movies and TV shows that are hiding on the margins of Netflix. Case in point: Three early films starring the great Stephen Chow, released a full decade before the twin successes of 2004’s Shaolin Soccer and 2005’s Kung Fu Hustle brought him long-overdue international recognition. All three quietly arrived on Netflix on Thursday, and all three deserve a wider audience than they’ve been given.

The first is Look Out, Officer!, a wacky supernatural comedy from 1990. Chow stars as a young police recruit who ends up haunted by the ghost of a cop (Bill Tung) who was murdered by a crime lord. There’s a threadbare plot about avenging the officer’s death so he can get into heaven—but the whole thing is really just an excuse for the slapstick antics for which Chow would soon be known. The ghost cop pulls a series of supernatural tricks to help Chow solve the murder: Twisting the barrel of a villain’s gun to shoot his cronies, or steering a magic bullet through the knees of a dozen armed gangsters. But Chow spends much of the movie resisting the ghost cop’s request, preferring instead to woo the daughter of the ghost’s former partner. That collaboration leads to a series of hilarious, Three Stooges–esque scenes: an elaborate chopstick fight with his date’s dad over which of them will eat a too-spicy piece of shrimp, or a lengthy sequence in which Chow and the dad collaborate to fill a pair of rubber pants with the biggest, smelliest fart they can muster. (I swear it makes more sense in context.)

The next movie on offer is The Mad Monk—the closest thing to a misfire in this trio, but strange and singular enough to be worth your time. Chow plays the Dragon Fighter Lohan, a god who makes a wager with his rival deities: He can go down to Earth, assume the body of a human, and reform a prostitute, a beggar, and a villain, who would otherwise be doomed to those roles for nine consecutive reincarnations. The Mad Monk has a really weird mix of tones, alternating between slapstick—including an interminable sequence in which a grown man plays a cranky baby—and some legitimately disturbing sequences, including the abduction and rape of the prostitute (played by In the Mood for Love’s Maggie Cheung). It also culminates in a massive, crazy battle against a giant rubber-faced demon. It’s not going to be for everybody, but it’s definitely unlike anything you’ve seen before.

The best of the bunch is 1996’s Love on Delivery, which offers a cheeky, affectionate dismantling of kung fu tropes. Chow plays a dimwitted and cowardly delivery boy who falls in love with a martial-arts student named Lily (Christy Chung). When he learns that the woman of his dreams will only date a "hero," he signs up to learn how to fight—unaware that his teacher, who claims to be a Chinese boxing master, is actually a scam artist who improvises the lessons as he goes along. Chow eventually puts his training to the test, donning a Garfield mask and remaking himself as the mysterious Garfield Warrior. But when he actually manages to save Lily from a creep, a bunch of rival paramours claim to be the true Garfield Warrior, complicating his battle for Lily’s love. The whole thing culminates in a nutty parody of Rocky, and the movie also slips in weird little references to John Woo, Terminator 2, and Superman. It’s great.

Before you queue any of these movies up, a warning: There are aspects of all three that haven’t aged particularly well in the decades since they were released. The female parts tend to be underwritten, and the threat of sexual violence is sometimes played for laughs. Look Out, Officer! is also saddled with an unfortunate and unfunny gay-panic subplot. But if you’re willing to ride out the more regressive elements that occasionally pop up in these movies, you’ll find a showcase for the top-notch talents of Stephen Chow and a fascinating survey of wild, inventive slapstick comedies that haven’t received nearly enough attention.