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Chow drops the ball with CJ7
Friday August 22 2008
By Peter Muhvic, Rewind
 
CJ7
** out of ****
Stephen Chow is as unique and gifted a comedian as there is out there, so it’s disappointing to see the mixed results in his new family film CJ7, which presents a total grab bag of styles and tones that don’t gel easily.
Chow plays Ti, a desperately poor construction worker doing his best to provide for his son Dicky. With the bulk of his salary going towards keeping Dicky in a good school, Ti is forced to rummage through dumpsites for everyday necessities like shoes.
Meanwhile, a new robotic toy is released and Dicky is dead-set on having one. Ti can’t afford it of course, and instead brings home a weird rubber ball he found in the trash. Turns out the ball is a small alien who can repair things, but at a price.
The majority of the movie focuses on Dicky and how the alien alters his attitude and day-to-day life. Things are most often locked in silly mode, but Chow, who co-wrote and directed the film, bites off far more than he can chew. Mixed in with the zaniness of seeing Dicky getting sprayed with alien pooh are numerous sentimental scenes, including some at the end that strike a really strange and perhaps inappropriate note.
CJ7 tries to be fun and innocent enough for the kids but also hip and edgy enough for the adults, and the combination simply doesn’t work here. The damage the shifting tone does for the comedy is all too palpable.
It’s a shame that CJ7 can’t quite get on track because Chow is certainly talented enough to make anything worth watching.