Big Shot's Funeral (2001)

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

As the title says, Big Shot's Funeral is not a contemporary movie. I second the reviewer who mention that this is akin to an independent film. It may not seem like there's a proper storyline nor a proper ending, but it's entertaining enough during the whole movie, and I can very easily forgive its shortcomings.What I loved about this movie was its east-meets-west kind of interaction between Tyler (Donald Sutherland) who speaks very little Chinese, and YoYo (You Ge) who speaks very little English. Language is no barrier for these two, and they get along with each other very well. I'm also glad that Sutherland didn't act as a grumpy director, as he could've very easily been one. He's quite lovable, and so is You Ge. The only friction that exists in the movie is between YoYo and Lucy (Rosamund Kwan), and even that's resolved at the end of the movie. By the way, I never knew Rosamund Kwan could speak good American English before watching this movie!Apart from the east-meets-west theme, the other major theme of the movie is the increasing capitalism, consumerism and westernisation of China, even though it's a communist country!As usual, don't expect big slapstick laughs, just expect witty dialogue (if you understand enough Chinese) and quite a few weird scenes that'll make you raise your eyebrows. Keep that expectation a bit low, and have some patience with it. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. :)

I really liked this film. If you want something different, then I highly recommend. Donald Sutherland is excellent in plotting his own funeral with the help of Yo Yo and Lucy. You Ge is excellent, I've never seen this chap before, but his delivery of deadpan lines is spot on. Yo Yo with the assistance of Lucy set about planning the funeral of Don Tyler (Sutherland) even though he isn't even dead yet. They plan to sell advertising space on the various mediums to make it a grand event, throughout the film they overcome the obstacles thrown in their path to make this the biggest thing of the year. The dialogue is a mix of English and subtitles, so if you aren't into foreign films then this isn't your cup of tea, however I urge you to watch it anyhow, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

I didn't believe the guy in the DVD shop down the street when he recommended this "black comedy", I'm generally not a big fan of Chinese humor. But he assured me that this was the first film of its kind in China, and so I bought it in spite of my reservations. After watching Big Shot's Funeral I'm really glad that I gave it a chance.This movie was so much funnier than i thought it would be! First of all, it stars one of the best comic actors out there, You Ge (YoYo). He's got the deadpan delivery down pat. Second, the whole scenario of Sutherland's character as a director staging a new version of The Last Emperor was hilarious, from the eroticized woman ostensibly giving birth, to the child actor drinking his cola - subversively funny commentary on Orientalism and commercialism. Then we get to watch as YoYo completely immerses himself in planning a ridiculously extravagant funeral for a guy who a) he barely knows, and b) isn't dead yet! Seriously, that's a great comic premise in any language.My main complaint about this film is Rosamund Kwan's character (Lucy). She just didn't seem to fit, and about halfway through the film I started to get really annoyed with her as her actions didn't seem to make any sense at all.Not that this movie is really supposed to make sense, it's just that in the farcical scheme of things Lucy seemed to kill all the fun. The other thing is that the last 10 or 15 minutes of the film didn't really work at all; it's almost like the director couldn't figure out how to wrap things up so he just threw together a bizarre collection of scenes without bothering to relate them to the rest of the film. But these kinds of problems aren't a big deal in a movie that's not to be taken seriously in the first place. I would especially recommend it to foreign viewers who are only used to stuff by Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige; Big Shot's Funeral is a nice contrast to all those Very Serious movies set in the Very Distant past.

"Da Wan" is an absolutely brilliant satire. It portrays the onslaught of Western and capitalist culture in China, movie studios' obsession with the bottom-line as opposed to artistic merit, the fun and foibles of cross-cultural exchange, and the often rough intersections of business and identity. Car chases, explosions, and slick martial arts fight scenes are not to be found in this gem of a film.I highly recommend it!