CRAZY RACER Review

CRAZY RACER, also known as SILVER MEDALIST, arrives on a wave of high expectation and positive word of mouth. The film's creative team, including writer/director Ning Hao and lead actor Huang Bo, were also responsible for CRAZY STONE, a quirky, low budget crime caper that came out of nowhere to be one of China's biggest domestic hits of 2006, revealing that Mainland audiences did have tastes extending beyond lavish period war epics and cheap slapstick. With a bigger budget at their disposal this time out, CRAZY RACER keeps to the same winning formula and for the most part is very enjoyable.

Geng (Huang Bo) is a professional cyclist, who is duped by con artist Li Fala (Jiu Kong) into failing a drug test by drinking an MDMA-laced herbal tea, which sees both Geng and his coach disqualified. Fast forward a couple of years and Geng is now a bum, scraping together a living, but is spurred into action after discovering Li Fala is now a successful businessman - a revelation that inadvertently causes the death of his coach. 

It is revealed that Li Fala has hired a couple of bumbling hitmen to kill his wife, only for her to offer them a better deal. Geng tracks Li down to a stadium where he is filming his latest herbal remedy commercial, but inadvertently disturbs a drug deal between a local triad gang and a tattooed muay-thai versed dealer. Soon enough the drugs, the money and the ashes of Geng's coach have all mistakenly changed hands, as have a truck with a frozen corpse in the back and the film becomes a classic comedy of errors as each of these dubious parties attempts to get back what is rightfully theirs by any means necessary.

The complex intertwining storyline, featuring a plethora of nefarious underworld characters, makes CRAZY RACER feel in many ways like a Mandarin Guy Ritchie film, similar in tone and style to LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS. The plot does get a little convoluted at times and relies on coincidence perhaps once too often to resolve dilemmas, but on the whole it is a lot of fun, and displays an energetic visual aesthetic and some likeable performances. Next time out, Ning and Co. may have to evolve their style somewhat, and prove they are more than a one-trick pony, but for now at least we can enjoy CRAZY RACER as their lap of honour.