"Shanghai Noon": Funny Western Comedy

There's a certain brand of movies that you see and just know it's a late 90s/early 2000s comedy. For Shanghai Noon (2000), I mean that in the best way. This buddy flick is set in the cowboy days where a Chinese princess is taken to America and imperial guards are sent to get her back. *No major spoilers ahead.

Jackie Chan ruled this era with this movie and the Rush Hour franchise. He plays an imperial guard member sent to retrieve the princess from the wild western frontier of America. He does his usual martial arts routines that are wildly entertaining. I can only ever dream of doing a fraction of what he does in these scenes.

Never did I think of pairing Chan with Owen Wilson, but it works wonderfully. The two have a natural chemistry that's engaging to watch. Wilson says some hilarious lines that I don't want to give away. A particular quote from the jail cell scene made my friends and I burst out laughing. My personal favorite is the bathtub scene. The cast of these two is excellent.

Walton Goggins (Justified, Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Ant-Man and the Wasp) had a small role, and he's been moving up my actors list recently. Look him up. Also, Lucy Liu is fantastic in her role as the princess. She's a name that we don't hear often anymore, but this decade was owned by her.

As previously mentioned, this is a western comedy, but there's a meta twist. Different characters have names of famous cowboys including John Wayne, and they joke about it being a terrible cowboy name. Other instances include them talking about the merits of "the duel", train robbing, and more.

This is movie is deceptively deeper than its surface. Besides the laughs, I'd argue that this is about developing friendship and trust between people that seem vastly different on the outside but really aren't on the inside.

This is a rollicking film that has real rewatchability, and that's an important factor for me. Try Shanghai Noon! My film rating is an A-.