Tribeca ’03: Shaolin Soccer (review)

Bend it like Bruce. Lee, that is. Arguably the two most popular forms of entertainment — martial-arts movies and soccer — are two great tastes that taste great together in Honk Kong phenom Stephen Chow’s outrageous comedy. Chow — as writer, director, editor, producer, and star — creates a goofily appealing world of out-of-shape shaolin monks, a shy noddle-making girl, and a down-on-his-luck former soccer star who play the most improbable game ever, flying over the field, moving with inhuman speed, sending the ball into orbit with a single kick. Its defiant lack of political correctness is more than made up for by an abundance of heart.