Flirting Scholar

Tang Bohu is the most celebrated poet and painter of Ming China; he has eight wives, a rich house and no satisfaction in anything. One day he sees a servant girl called Qiuxiang and, to reach her, hides his identity and enters the Hua household as a servant at the lowest rank. Inside he has to deal with the lady of the house and with a rival school. Lee Lik-chi directs. Stephen Chow plays Tang Bohu and Gong Li plays Qiuxiang. Tang Bohu was a real historical figure, a painter and poet of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Many stories grew around him in Chinese popular narrative and this is among the best known adaptations of them. The humour belongs to the style called mo lei tau: illogical, fast Cantonese comedy built on wordplay. Stephen Chow is its best known practitioner. The poetry duel is the most cited passage; the two sides recite verses that grow steadily more absurd and the scene is cut like a fight. Most of the wordplay is Cantonese and does not survive subtitling, which is the real obstacle for viewers outside. It was among the highest grossing films of its year in Hong Kong and is now one of the most rewatched comedies in the Chinese speaking world. Who it is for: viewers who like Stephen Chow and Hong Kong popular cinema. Who it is not for: the humour is very tied to language and culture, the narrative is scattered, and some jokes are coarse from here.