Crappy film

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I'm not a huge fan of the films put out by mainland China, finding them flawed in various ways: either bogged down in appalling CGI, spoilt by unwanted propaganda, or packed with the lamest comedy imaginable. I thought the same would be true of DETECTIVE CHINATOWN, but it turns out to be a lot more enjoyable than I had hoped. The story follows a young, bland cop, played by a slightly wooden Liu Haoran, who is reejcted by the police and who heads off with his bizarre uncle to solve a murder case in Thailand. Said uncle is played by Wang Baoqiang, who I previously saw in the likes of BLIND SHAFT and KUNG FU KILLER, and he turns out to be perfectly cast. He's eccentric, over the top, very energetic, and most of all, funny. His character is pretty outrageous but he makes the film enjoyable and his long-running feud with a rival leads to the movie's greatest moments. Some of it is slow and sappy, but the lowbrow slapstick scenes are fun and there's some Jackie Chan-style action and a scene or two borrowed from THE RAID 2 which are very entertaining.

Mixing Crime, Comedy is never easy. You could succeed with awards or flop into winning in Rotten Tomatoes.I am fortunate as I speak English, Chinese and Thai so it was easy to follow the plot and this is truly a winner.Everyone having a bad day at work should watch this and be entertained.. which is after all what comedy means. Enjoy.As for the comedy, the slapstick escapades sequence is just great tribute to Charlie Chaplin. If any reviewers take offense to the farce, they must have not watch Mr Chaplin epic slapstick routines.I really enjoy the sequences of another lead getting his nose busted in every scene he appear... a tribute and parody to another Hollywood detective that has his nose plastered from start to finish...The crime is a lock room mystery with a twist. And as one of the main role idolize Sherlock Holmes, the tribute to the cinematography in the Hollywood version with Downey is not lost and thoroughly enjoyable.And then there are the actions... the actions are surprising. I agreed. Watch the car chase scene and the fight scenes... no spoilers here..And finally the black comedy portion. The Hospital shoot out and the reference to the sound track at that moment is truly a genius. R&D on the meaning of the song and you will enjoy the shootout scene!! I see a lot of tribute to Thai black comedy style which I enjoy. And I hope this will encourage viewer to look into more Thai black comedies if you enjoy this movie. A lot of gems there.To top it off...the film squeeze in a hidden moral message. See the other reviews for a clue.As lost in translation goes, I am afraid its true... easily some of the conversation true meaning might be lost if you watch the subtitles.Fortunately "using a deity as a hostage" meaning is not lost in subtitles.If you are a film buff, you will be truly occupied spotting the parodies and tribute and amaze at how all these can be spliced in effortlessly.And when do big budget movie see an ending sequence where you know the entire cast have a roaring good time? The ending itself put you in a humming mode and remind you to laugh and be entertain.If you watch this film to spot continuity errors, and be critical on every scene and plot.. you should not be watching this film.Do watch if you think you want to be entertained.

I must say Chinatown Detective is never the best detective film, but it's a good one. Funny, plot reasonably complicated, a twist in the end. Two young actors' performance is convincing enough, especially the girl. Her last scene really struck me and many other Chinese audiences. I doubt if those who didn't see any good out of it watched it throughout at all. It doesn't have the fanciest or epoch- breaking technical innovation, but neither do most filmmakers around the world. For instance, the gunfight in the hospital is a good scene. The escape from the police station might be a tribute to Jackie Chan's earlier films. There are many funny moments where I got good laughs. But not understanding the Chinese language will cause a problem to that. A few of the actors are renowned for their comedian work in their local dialect. The robber wearing glasses are famous for his comedies in his Northeastern dialect which is a big contrast to the location of the film. If a viewer doesn't understand Chinese or Thai, they might not know that the Thai police chief would give instructions in Thai but threaten to fire the two Chinese officers in Chinese.The humour isn't that Chinese people are making fun of Chinese people. It's that the safest joke you can ever make is about yourself. After all, character arrangements are only film characters. They're not always meant to be realistic, especially in the comedic bits. It's strange if anyone imagine all Chinese people will be so ridiculous as certain characters. There's also deep philosophy hidden in the film which I wonder how many Hollywood popular films have. If you don't watch Chinatown Detective carefully, you probably have entirely forgotten about the caption at the beginning of the film. In fact, the ending of the film or two young characters in the film is the evidence to the caption at the beginning. It is also in the discussion between the two youngsters. Therefore, whoever says this film is a complete failure or anyone who watches this is an idiot will be an idiot in my eyes, honestly. Reviewers like BasicLogic might lack basic logic in certain ways. If I don't like some film, I won't say this film is made of utter stupidity, because it's non-sense. Only seeing the problems in Chinese film industry instead of problems in their own film industry (I guarantee there must be some as there's no such thing as a perfect industry) is just biased and arrogant.Whoever says this film isn't funny at all, it's because people have different perception on humour. I never found Annie Hall funny. I thought The Hangover franchise or Due Date weren't so funny for my taste. But I enjoyed The Philadelphia Story and Divorzio all'Italiana. I don't think it's the best idea to judge negatively upon a comedy which is not your taste. (Not to mention you don't understand the Chinese language, which means you won't get any linguistic humour.) On the other hand, an art-house film or documentary lover shouldn't look down upon a good comedy simply because it was made to be entertaining. Ultimately, most films are made for entertainment. If you want to be high-brow, that's your own business. But don't laugh at others who want to have a good laugh.I would personally recommend this film. If there are people who hate it, that's not their fault. But that's not the film's fault either.

I thought the movie was very, very funny.It had some very good jokes in it. You get nervous seeing comedies in a different language than your own and wonder if you'll get the jokes, but the jokes were a simplistic base of comedy that everyone can laugh atPlus several of the jokes were visual slap stick that was just universal. In fact the movie all together was visually simulating, which showed Thailand's Chinatown to be a very colorful place.The two main actors in this were an exceptional team as well. The movie is about a young man who fails out of the police academy despite his exceptional skills in observation (he plays the straight man). TY get over his depression he visits an uncle who lives in Thailand (he plays the screw ball) Together they have to solve a murder while looking for a gangster's gold. It was a really fun, entertaining film to watch.