King of Beggars

So Chan, the spoiled son of a rich family, has never worked and cannot even read. When he falls in love he tries to sit the imperial examination, wins the fighting section, and after his cheating on the written paper is exposed the family fortune is confiscated and he ends up a beggar on the street. There he joins the Beggars' Union and eventually becomes a master of Drunken Fist. Gordon Chan made it as one of Stephen Chow's best pieces of that period, with the comedy built entirely on Chow's rhythm of nonsense and a final fight good enough to take seriously. The character comes from Beggar So of Chinese folk narrative. The idea is simple and effective: losing everything forces the man to learn something for the first time. Who it is for: viewers who like Hong Kong comedy and Stephen Chow. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a coherent plot.