Search - Mr. Nice Guy on DVD

Jennifer F. (KnJFisher) from GILLETT, PA
Reviewed on 5/24/2008...

This film is certainly not an Academy Award Winner, but it most definitely is just a plain old good action film with tons of senseless fighting. The fighting is incredible in this film and the stunts are quite impressive, the choreography and the stunts are what make this film good, don't expect a great story or any great acting.

The story isn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be, it's actually quite interesting and takes a little bit of step aside from Jackie Chan's typical cop character. This time he's simply a TV chef that gets mixed up in things against his will. It sounds pretty stupid, but it's not all that bad.

The acting and even more so, the dialogue are two things that I'm not even going to begin to defend. The acting is pretty bad at times and the dialogue is god-awful! Sadly, a lot of the bad dialogue could easily have been avoided, I don't know what the writers/director was thinking.

Virtually all of the cast members were new faces to me, with of course, the exception of Jackie Chan. Jackie does a good job with his role, exactly what you would expect from one of his films. I feel I have to mention Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, what a beautiful actress!!! And she's actually a pretty good actress, I'll definitely be keeping an eye open for her future work.

If you are a fan of Martial Art films, or just like Jackie Chan, then watch this movie. Just watch this film thinking you are going to have a fun time watching Jackie kick some bad-guy butt! I hope you enjoy the film, thanks for reading, Jen

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Maybe not Chan's best, but a truly fun film nonetheless

Dave. K | Staten Island, Ny | 01/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"When it comes to the career of Jackie Chan as far as his films and stunts go Mr. Nice Guy won't be one of the first brought up; Chan has made a career out of amazing fight scenes and some of the most dangerous stunts ever seen on film. In my opinion Jackie Chan just might be the greatest action star of all time. Chan really raised the bar for action sequences and nobody has really ever managed to top him.

The thing about Jackie Chan even if you view some of his 80s movies like even Police Story you can clearly see the Hollywood influence and Mr. Nice Guy was clearly aimed at an American audience. This movie does have that B-grade feel, but its Chan's fighting and stunts that raise the movie above the normal B-Flick. Here in Mr. Nice Guy it seems to be a more slightly toned down Jackie Chan or just maybe it's just damn near impossible to top some of his earlier work. Regardless of which it is this isn't gonna make the Jackie Chan highlight reel, but it's still filled with some great fight scenes and some great stunts.

The screenplay by Fibe Ma & Edward Tang is what it is; look nobody really goes into a Jackie Chan movie for the script. We watch his flicks for the fights and stunts. The script by Ma & Tang is good in the sense it's never boring, but the plot is very thin and actually as the movie goes on its quite easy to even forget how this whole thing started. The characters though are mostly likeable and the villains are silly fun. The script is weak, but I suppose it serves its purpose.

Mr. Nice Guy was directed by Sammo Hung who has appeared in many of these kinds of flicks and should be best known to American audiences from the TV series Martial Law; Sammo's directing is fairly good; the movie is well paced and there really isn't a slow moment at all. The action starts off quick and its non-stop. Most of the running time is filled with action and any breaks are very brief. This isn't one of the great martial arts movies and does feel too American in structure, but Sammo Hung does a good job in the sense the movie is never boring.

The performances are decent from the cast with Chan being the best of the lot. But like we don't see these movies for the script we also don't really watch them for the acting. Jackie Chan really isn't a bad actor he's actually fairly good and while I'm a big fan of his work I would love to see him with better material from a writing stance. Miki Lee as Miki is just so cute and fun to watch and her scenes with Chan are highly entertaining.

Like I said before most of the running time of Mr. Nice Guy is packed with action and while these may not be the best of Chan's career they are still excellent and thrilling to watch. While Mr. Nice Guy isn't quite a 4-star movie and it really is very much an American B-Movie, I still rate it 4-stars for the simple fact Mr. Nice Guy is just so entertaining; from the get go until the closing shot this movie is never once boring and will keep a smile planted on the viewers face. Don't go in expecting classic Jackie Chan just sit back and enjoy the ride."