Teppanyaki (1984) User Reviews

MSG included, but what about the food?

[Jack_Yan · 6/10 · 30 July 1999]

Michael Hui can almost guarantee an audience. At the time, he was easily the best comic writer-actor in colonial Hong Kong. Teppanyaki, where he plays a chef, builds on his reputation, although compared to hits such as Security Unlimited (1981), Hui's writing seems a little lacklustre. It's still a delightful comedy and most moviegoers will enjoy it - and then again, Security Unlimited was a hard act to follow.

The ingredients (pun not intended) are there: the chef, subject to abuse by his spoilt wife and her (usually armed) father (who owns the restaurant he works at), his best friend and his 103-year-old grandfather, and their relationship. The chef (Hui) has fallen for a calendar girl (Sally Yeh), which puts additional strain on his work and home life.

It still illustrates how naturally writing and acting come to Michael Hui. There are some fantastic moments - such as the eyebrow shaving and the tennis game using a frying pan - but they come less often than in some of Hui's earlier efforts. There's a feeling that there could be something extra. Good, but not great.

Don't take your blessing foregranted

[The-Sarkologist · 6/10 · 13 December 2013]

This is a Hong Kong comedy which runs a little like an American film. It is based around Wong and is exploits as he chases women while avoiding his wife, her friend, her friend's dog, and his father-in-law. Wong is literally a slave to his wife and his father-in-law. She keeps him on a tight leash and as such, he is wanting to revolt. Wong does have a few allies, such as his friend and his grandfather. When he is busted at a night-club, his grandfather warns him in time, but he is still caught by a dog.

This movie has little plot and only one big theme, and that is don't abuse what you have got or you will loose it. It seems that Wong had little choice in marrying as his father-in-law is his boss, and when he came to Hong Kong he had nothing and his father-in-law was nice enough to give him a job. Unfortunately, his misfortune is constantly rubbed into him, and it gets to a point where he simply gives up and leaves. This devastates his wife who demands that he is found, and realises that she simply cannot push him around.

This is a reasonable movie and it is quite clever with some of its things. In fact it has almost everything such as plane crashes into shark-infested water, Indiana Jones style stunts, hospital shoot outs, and infidelity to the extreme, though he never has sex with his mistress during the entire movie. Probably not the most moral of movies, but it does make us think twice about taking privileges foregranted.

Better than I remembered it.

[OllieSuave-007 · 7/10 · 24 April 2015]

This is one of Michael Hui's directed comedies, which are dubbed "Mr. Boo" in Japan. Here, Michael Hui plays Johnny, who works as a teppanyaki chef at a restaurant own by his trigger-happy father-in-law (Hoi-Pang Lo). He and his grandfather are also mistreated by his wife, Ying. As a result, Johnny dreams of a fantasy island where he can go over with a calendar girl named Sisi (Sally Yeh).

The film has a solid plot and some laugh-out-loud slapstick humor. The movie does drag at times as it lacks some action and suspense. But, Michael Hui is definitely the highlight of the film as his unique brand of humor and comedy keeps us entertained. From his frustrated family life scenes to the disastrous Philippines vacation scenes, it's not a bad movie from start to finish. It has a good message about not letting people walk all over you - a good lesson to learn.

Overall, this movie was better than I remembered it when I first watched it many years before this year (2015).

Grade B-

Typical Hong Kong comedy

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 May 2021]

TEPPANYAKI is another in the series of hugely popular Golden Harvest comedies that Michael Hui made throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He wrote and directed as well as starring in this one, playing a romantic teppanyaki chef who dreams of escaping his humdrum existence (which includes a nagging wife and father in law doubling as his boss) to elope with a pretty girl he met in a nightclub. The emphasis is on slapstick humour as usual for Hong Kong cinema and there are some very funny set-pieces, like a wacky tennis match or a great little RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK spoof. The action shifts to the Philippines for a fun climax, and, be warned, there is some dodgy racial humour added to the mix too. Obviously this played best to local Hong Kong audiences of the era, but there's enough for westerners to enjoy too.