Wheels On Meals (
Kwai tsan tseh, 1984)
"Wheels on Meals" is a delightful bit of fluff from the 3 Brothers (Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao), heavy on silly comedy and light on action. Jackie and Biao play Thomas and David, who run a big yellow food truck ("Everybody's Kitchen") in Barcelona. They get mixed up in the affairs of a lovely pickpocket named Sylvia, the daughter of David's father's girlfriend (who, along with David's father, happens to be in a mental institution.) Sammo plays Moby, a bumbling private investigator looking for Sylvia. It turns out there's a lot more to Sylvia than meets the eye, and by the end of the film the 3 Bros are storming a castle to rescue her and her mother from an evil relative...well, let's just say it's all terribly goofy, but who cares! If you enjoy the sweet silliness of Hong Kong comedies, you'll like this one. And let's not forget Thomas and David, living together in the same apartment, sharing a bedroom, acting quite slashy together. I mean, what's up with these boys when Sylvia invites them both to sleep with her, and the boys instead march off to their bedroom together?! (I think the English dub may refer to Thomas and David as cousins, but the subtitled version says they're only "friends". I'll go with the subtitles.)
If you're only interested in action, you will likely be disappointed--there's only one drawn-out fight sequence at the end, but it is a very good one. Each of the 3 Bros gets to show off his stuff against a different opponent, and the best fight is Jackie's against Benny "The Jet" Urquidez. It's considered one of Jackie' best on-screen fights, and for good reason. Maybe it's not as elaborately cheroegraphed as many of his fights, but for just a good old one-on-one brawl it's quite intense. And let's be sure to mention how droolworthy Jackie looks, stripped down to a tight t-shirt and black leggings. Mrrrrrrrrowl!!!
SUMMARY:
Overall rating: A- "That was so cute!" is pretty much the reaction this one gets.
Droolworthiness: A- Jackie in those black leggings. Jackie and Biao working out together. If only Biao hadn't been wearing those goofy looking glasses most of the time, it would be a solid A.
Slashiness: A- Thomas and David are really adorable together and easily slashable.
Action: A for the final scene, but C for the rest of the film.
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