I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

one of splendid films. for reminding of old flavor of comedy. for irony,for madness, for the circles of stories, for silk performances, for science to use tenderness and cruelty and the photography in the most inspired manner. so, a nice film. or, maybe, a happy meet with a great story and with its director. slices of western and Medieval stories and spectacular situations, beautiful fight scenes and remind of the force of...woman. so, perfect show.

A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop is acclaimed director Yimou Zhank's satire of the Coen Brothers' satire of film noir, Blood Simple. Although I am not a fan of Chinese humor because of its reliance on slapstick and hyperbole, it is filmed with a visual richness that Yimou has made his signature.Older husband abuses younger wife, who is being adulterous with a handsome, cowardly servant. Her purchasing a gun sets in motion a series of revenge activities that flesh out the Coen's title.The magnified close-ups and slow motion sequences accompanied by dazzling colors make a satisfying visual experience if the humor is just not that humorous.

Wow. A boring comedy. My movie companion and I each thought of walking out early but didn't realize it until we compared notes at the end. I heard very few chuckles from the rest of the audience, so maybe everybody there wanted to leave long before the credits rolled. The characters were so cartoonish and one dimensional that I wasn't even interested in seeing what happened to them. It was like watching a Three Stooges movie that went on for far too long. It could have used some of the actual Stooges too, rather than the stooges who populate this lushly filmed laugh-deprived mess.Supposedly this is a remake of Blood Simple. I didn't see Blood Simple. I don't think I ever will.

Who would have thought that Zhang Yimou, once art house darling and for trying too hard at the martial arts genre, could be capable of pulling off an all-out, slapstick black comedy with A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop? It certainly took my by surprise, and showed that he's more than willing and capable of stepping outside his comfort zone, to remake what's essentially The Coen Brother's Blood Simple, albeit set in a period Chinese era and in context as well, with the bar in an unnamed Texas town becoming a noodle shop out in a desert.And paying homage to The Coens isn't just the only one here. Curiously, the finale sequence was very similar to how Danny Boyle decided to end Slumdog Millionaire, with an out of place song and dance sequence that became more absurd as the clip ticked by. Serving little purpose other than to get everyone lip sync, dance, spin some dough, break the 4th fall and essentially telling us that everyone had a swell time making the film, I thought this could be done without since the end was quite pitch perfect.Beginning with an introduction to the important plot element of introducing a gun into the story, a group of Persian merchants come into Wang's (Ni Dahong) noodle shop to sell some wares, and ultimately Wang's Wife (Yan Ni) decides to buy a three-barrelled gun. Nobody knows what for, and a cannon demonstration brings forth the local police, whose chief investigator Zhang (Sun Honglei) gets engaged in an expensive scheme by Wang to finish off his adulterous wife and her lover, employee Li (Xiao Shen-Yang). But of course things never go according to plan, especially when everyone has their own agenda, and it becomes one heck of a comedic blood bath with motivations questioned, and you the audience left wondering just how everyone will get out of this mess.Zhang Yimou once again goes for very saturated colour schemes for his films, from the rich blues of the skies to the orange-brown sands of the desert land, and this time too keeping his characters in single-toned striking colours. If anyone doubts the director in being able to helm a comedy, the opening scene itself will allay those fears, and indeed much of the physical comedy come thanks to the wonderful casting, especially that of the two bumbling shop assistants caught up in the complicated events only because they're looking toward settling their back pay.It highlights how men become easily tempted by money, the root of all evil, when faced with bucket-loads of them, and how coincidences play a huge part in getting the characters where they end up, with each unfortunate moment ending in becoming a corpse (yes, there will be blood, and death) in a seemingly convoluted narrative that has to be seen to be believed the kind of rich writing which can pull it off. But what I enjoyed more, is how modern day devices are given the old fashioned treatment, such as the police "siren" - horse mounted and wind-generated - and a combination lock, designed with an abacus, no less!A Woman, A Gun and A Noodle Shop may seem like a less than epic film from Zhang Yimou, but it sure is a lot of fun delivered by its outstanding casting who seem all too comfortable in dishing out black and physical humour. Recommended, just so you know that the director has the bandwidth to do a lot more than what his filmography thus far has pigeon-holed him into.