The story of Wilson Bond, a pimp who after saving Chan, the leader of the Heaven and Earth society, a revolutionary group, is made a member. After a botched first assignment for the group, he is made a servant to the Prince, the very person the Heaven and Earth society want to overthrow. What follows is plenty of mayhem and laughter.
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Reviews
one of my absolute favorites!
Load of rubbish!!
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
ROYAL TRAMP should've been titled ROYAL PAIN. Wei Bo (Chow) is an entertainer in a brothel who makes the mistake of agreeing to help steal The 42 Chapters, a kung fu instruction book of great renown. To get closer to said book, he signs on as a royal bodyguard to The Empress. And only EUNUCHS can be bodyguards for The Empress. He's on the "operating table" about to be castrated before he realizes this. It takes some doing, but he manages to talk his way out of the situation. He's nicknamed "Penis" thereafter. At one point, he goes sneaking around the grounds looking for the book- and looks directly at the camera, as if it were just something insignificant in his line of sight. It's a brief but extremely funny moment that happens in passing. There's even an encounter with the infamous Obai, a white-maned madman of the Bai Mae variety. (During an early battle scene, Obai literally shreds his opponents, using his fingernails to lop the top off of one man's head.) The fight scenes make extensive use of over-the-top wirework, but, this being a comedy, one can't argue with the choice.
After saving the leader of revolutionary group The Heaven and Earth Society, lovable rogue Wilson Bond (Stephen Chow) is tasked with stealing a valuable book belonging to the Empress Dowager, mother of the King; it's a mission that sees Wilson almost turned into a eunuch, becoming romantically involved with Princess Jianning, saving the king's life, battling evil martial arts expert O'Brian, and uncovering a plot by the Dragon Sect to overthrow the Ching dynasty.Chinese humour often leaves me baffled and with my DeltaMac DVD having some of the worst subtitles imaginable (poorly translated and often on the screen for a fraction of a second) I fully expected Stephen Chow martial arts comedy Royal Tramp to be an extremely frustrating and ultimately disappointing affair; rather surprisingly, it wasn't quite as bad as I had feared.Even though I was often left confused by proceedings and much of the humour failed to make me laugh, I still had a reasonably fun time thanks to the totally bonkers nature of the film, the action kicking off in insane style with villain O'Brian (Sex and Zen star Elvis Tsui) laying waste to an army of assassins from the Heaven and Earth society, impaling them on sharpened bamboo poles, pulling them apart, and even ripping off one poor guy's cranium!This level of craziness continues throughout, with numerous gags about eunuchs and penises, a kung fu style that allows access to the victim's nipples, another that causes the victim's bones to dissolve, some very silly fight scenes with lots of flying through the air and flapping fabric, a pair of female bodyguards (the lovely Fennie Yuen and Vivian Chan) who used to be Siamese twins and who now speak and act in unison, an attack by flying death cymbals(!), and a suitably OTT death for the villain that sees him not only impaled on a statue (the tip emerging from his groin) but also skewered in the head by a sword.In addition to the lovely twin bodyguards, the film also features eye-candy in the form of the gorgeous Chingmy Yau (Naked Killer) as Princess Jianning, stunning Sharla Cheung as the Empress Dowager, and Brigitte Lin as her evil stand-in, who is seen escaping at the end of the film, but vowing to return (for Part II!).
Mo lei tau is a name given to a type of humor originating from Hong Kong during the late 20th century. It is a phenomenon which has grown largely from its presentation in modern film media. Its humor arises from the complex interplay of cultural subtleties significant in Hong Kong. Typical constituents of this humor include nonsensical parodies, juxtaposition of contrasts, and sudden surprises in spoken dialogue and action....Stephen Chow and Uncle Tat team up once again to bring you many moments of nonsensical hilarity in this classic period piece. I particularly like the musical sequence and bits of kung fu.
Laughing was the only action (besides watching) I did throughout the entire movie. Wilson Bond, played by Cantonese comedian (Stephen) Chow Sing Chi, works with his sister {(Sandra) Ning Kwan Yue} at a local brothel. The poor lad experience several unexpected events all in one day, like being forced to steal Empress Dowager's book of 42 chapters and almost had his "thing" chopped off because he was mistaken for an eunuch at the royal palace. Really funny and worth watching the entire length of the movie.