Law Wai Tak: Osaka wrestling restaurant (2004)

Cast: Timmy Hung, Wayne Lai Yiu-Cheung, Miku Ueno, Tats Lau, Sammo Hung
Two brothers use their father’s inheritance to open a popular restaurant in Hong Kong with live wrestling performances modeled after Japanese pro wrestling. But a rival restaurant attempts to ruin their reputation and their ultimate success hinges on impressing a famed food critic (Sammo Hung).
Costumed pro wrestling from Osaka, Japan and Hong Kong-style comedy meet in this potentially hilarious film starring Sammo Hung’s son Timmy. Sadly, it ends up being a mediocre and rambling movie that spits out one embarrassingly bad gag after another.
Several minor plots are poorly wrapped around the main story of brothers Ricky (Timmy Hung) and Mike (Wayne Lai) who are left with a sizable inheritance when their father dies. The older, but more irresponsible Mike comes up with the idea of using it to open a restaurant and offering patrons live wrestling performances with fighters dressed up as top pro wrestlers from Osaka’s wrestling circuit. Mike’s real plan is to finally have a successful business so that he can win back his estranged wife and son. Ricky just wants to be a great chef, but ends up hiding behind a wrestling mask after they hire an attractive Japanese waitress (Miku Ueno) whom he had inadvertently shoved off a pier previously. As the restaurant grows in popularity, the one-eyed owner of a rival restaurant where Ricky used to work resorts to putting cockroaches in their food and even planting a bomb. Their only hope at this point is to impress a famous food critic played by Sammo Hung in an extended cameo. A final clichéd plot that the filmmakers put absolutely no effort to into involves a trio of triad members who are after a data disc that ends up in the hands of Ricky.
This is one of those films that in better hands could have easily been a cult hit. The idea of protagonists opening a restaurant with costumed wrestling is original and full of jokes in the making. As is, there is a nice cross-culture mix of Japanese and Chinese references. You have cameos from both countries including martial arts stars Sammo Hung and Chin Kar-lok and Japanese wrestling celebrity Super Delphin. There is some campy pro wrestling action, lots of oddball characters, and even some heartfelt drama as Mike tries to win back his family. Yet Osaka Wrestling Restaurant fails on all levels.
The comedy is labored and never funny. This spells the film’s doom right here with what ends up being the equivalent of cinematic knock knock jokes. The performances range from passable in the case of Timmy and Wayne to downright awful in the case of Law Kar-wing’s over-the-top idiocy as the rival restaurateur or the generally forgettable acting of the remaining supporting cast. Sammo Hung makes a very brief, non-action appearance in support of his son that does nothing for the film, except to add yet another bit of bad, Looney Tunes-style comedy. The limited wrestling action is exclusively played for laughs and there is nothing to recommend in this department.
Director Law Wai-tak scrapes enough material together to present a few mildly entertaining moments, but only for avid fans of Hong Kong movies, specifically comedies which often demand acquired tastes among Western viewers. If, however, you’re like me you’ll be sitting through this movie of culinary and broad “martial arts” comedy and wishing you were watching Stephen Chow’s vastly superior God of Cookery.






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