Beverly Hills Ninja#Music

{{Infobox film

| name = Beverly Hills Ninja

| image = Beverly Hills Ninja poster.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Dennis Dugan

| producer = {{Plainlist|

Bradley Jenkel
Brad Krevoy
Steven Stabler
Mitch Klebanoff

}}

| writer = {{Plainlist|

Mark Feldberg
Mitch Klebanoff

}}

| starring = {{Plainlist|

}}

| music = George S. Clinton

| cinematography = Arthur Albert

| editing = Jeff Gourson

| production_companies = {{Plainlist|

TriStar Pictures

}}

| distributor = Sony Pictures Releasing

| released = {{Film date|1997|1|17}}

| runtime = 88 minutes

| country = United States

| language = {{Plainlist|

English

}}

| budget = $18 million

| gross = $37.9 million

}}

Beverly Hills Ninja is a 1997 American martial arts slapstick comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Mark Feldberg and Mitch Klebanoff. The film stars Chris Farley, Nicollette Sheridan, Nathaniel Parker, with Chris Rock, and Robin Shou. The main plot revolves around Haru (portrayed by Farley), a white orphan boy who is found by a clan of ninjas as an infant in an abandoned treasure chest and is raised by them.

Haru never quite conforms to their culture and never acquires the skills of a ninja, but is nonetheless good-natured, and persevering in his personal ambitions. His first mission brings him to Beverly Hills to investigate a murder mystery. It was the last film starring Farley to be released in his lifetime, as he died eleven months after its release.{{cite news | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/01/20/beverly-hills-ninja-tops-beverly-hills-cop/ | work=Chicago Tribune | title="Beverly Hills Ninja" Tops Beverly Hills Cop | date=January 20, 1997 | access-date=2010-09-29 | archive-date=2012-06-06 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606142815/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-01-20/news/9701200087_1_beverly-hills-ninja-chris-farley-box-office | url-status=live }}

Plot

A clan of ninjas in Japan finds a chest washed ashore with a white baby boy inside. One of their legends speaks of a foreign white man who would become a master like no other. Haru is raised with the expectation that he will become the legendary master. As Haru grows into adulthood, doubts are raised as he is clumsy and lacks ninja skills, and he fails to graduate as a ninja. Left alone to protect the temple while the clan is on a mission, Haru disguises himself as a ninja when an American woman, Sally Jones, comes seeking assistance. She tells Haru she is suspicious of her boyfriend, Martin Tanley, and asks him to investigate. Haru discovers Tanley and his bodyguard, Nobu, are involved in a money counterfeiting business, but cannot tell Sally before she leaves. Haru takes a plane to Beverly Hills to find Sally. The clan's sensei sends Haru's adoptive brother, Gobei, to secretly watch over and protect him during his mission.

Haru checks in at a Beverly Hills hotel, where he befriends its bellboy, Joey Washington, and teaches him some ninja lessons. Haru tracks Tanley and Nobu to a nightclub in Little Tokyo, where they attempt to retrieve some counterfeiting plates from their rival gang. The gangs fight, resulting in the deaths of two of the rival gang members, for which Haru finds himself the prime suspect. Haru returns to the hotel the next day, where he receives guidance from his sensei. When Haru locates Tanley's mansion, he finds Sally and discovers her real name is Alison Page. Alison informs him that Tanley murdered her sister, and she is dating Tanley with a fake name to get evidence. Haru discovers that Tanley will hire an ink specialist, Chet Walters, to help counterfeit money. Haru disguises himself as Walters and infiltrates Tanley's warehouse. His identity is exposed after he fails to counterfeit the money properly, and Tanley captures him. While Tanley obtains the other half of the plates from the rival gang, Alison rescues Haru, only to be kidnapped by Tanley. Haru enlists Joey's help to find Tanley's warehouse to rescue Alison. Gobei intervenes without Haru's knowledge and leads them back to the warehouse.

Haru is overwhelmed by Tanley's guards. Gobei reveals himself to Haru and distracts the guards, allowing Haru to rescue Alison. Haru uses a forklift to smash into the room, where Tanley locked Alison up with a bomb. Trying to defuse the bomb, Haru accidentally resets it for five minutes. He goes to help Gobei and suddenly snaps, demonstrating impressive martial arts moves that stun Gobei. Haru saves Gobei and defeats several guards. Haru and Gobei are left facing Nobu and two guards. Joey crashes through a window and knocks himself and one of the guards unconscious. Haru and Gobei defeat Nobu and the remaining guard, then fight Tanley. Haru accidentally knocks Gobei unconscious with a sheave, forcing Tanley to flee. Haru shoots a harpoon mounted on a cart through the room and into the back of a truck in which Tanley is escaping. The harpoon drags the bomb into Tanley's truck and explodes. Haru rescues Alison, while Tanley and his hitmen are arrested by Los Angeles police. Joey is interviewed by a news reporter and claims to be "The Great Black Ninja".

Haru tells his sensei he will be living in Beverly Hills with Alison. As Haru and Alison departs for Beverly Hills, a grappling hook falls from the bus and hooks Gobei's wheelchair, causing him to be thrown into the Pacific Ocean. As the film comes to an end, Haru shouts an apology to Gobei.

Cast

Chris Farley as Haru
Jason Davis as Young Haru
Nicollette Sheridan as Alison Page / Sally Jones
Robin Shou as Gobei
Nathaniel Parker as Martin Tanley
Soon-Tek Oh as Sensei
Chris Rock as Joey Washington
Keith Cooke Hirabayashi as Nobu
William Sasso as Chet Walters (uncredited)
François Chau as Izumo
Jason Tobin as Busboy
John P. Farley as Policeman
Kevin Farley as Policeman
Billy Connolly as Japanese Antique Shop Proprietor (uncredited)
Patrick Breen as Desk Manager (uncredited)
Steve Terada as Martial Artist (uncredited)

Dana Carvey was originally attached to play Haru back in 1990.{{Cite web|last=Evans|first=Bradford|date=2012-10-04|title=The Lost Roles of Dana Carvey|url=https://www.vulture.com/2012/10/the-lost-roles-of-dana-carvey.html|access-date=2021-09-05|website=Vulture|archive-date=2021-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905012321/https://www.vulture.com/2012/10/the-lost-roles-of-dana-carvey.html|url-status=live}}

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film topped the North American box office with $12,220,920. It went on to gross $31,480,418 in North America{{cite news |title=Beverly Hills Ninja |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beverlyhillsninja.htm |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=March 30, 2016 |archive-date=December 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229024904/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=beverlyhillsninja.htm |url-status=live }} and $6,393,685 in other territories,{{cite web |title=Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) - Financial Information |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Beverly-Hills-Ninja |website=The Numbers |access-date=16 April 2022 |archive-date=16 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416170919/https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Beverly-Hills-Ninja |url-status=live }} for a total of {{US$|{{#expr:31480418+6393685}}|long=no}} grossed worldwide.

Reception

Beverly Hills Ninja received generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 16% from 31 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Far from silent, but comedically deadly, Beverly Hills Ninja proves painfully unfunny."{{cite web |title= Beverly Hills Ninja |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beverly_hills_ninja/ |website= Rotten Tomatoes |access-date= 2025-04-23 |archive-date= 2023-03-29 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230329123016/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beverly_hills_ninja |url-status= live }} On Metacritic it has a score of 27 out of 100 based on reviews from 11 critics.{{cite web |title= Beverly Hills Ninja |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/beverly-hills-ninja |work= Metacritic |access-date= 2024-11-29 |archive-date= 2023-03-27 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230327020543/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/beverly-hills-ninja |url-status= live }} Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F.{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= BEVERLY HILLS NINJA (1997) B+ |work= CinemaScore |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}

James Berardinelli panned the film, stating that "Beverly Hills Ninja is essentially a one-joke film. That joke has to do with Chris Farley [...], who plays one of the clumsiest men on Earth, crashing into objects or having things fall on his head" and concluded that it "isn't just juvenile, it's lackluster and unfunny."{{cite news |title=Beverly Hills Ninja - A Film Review by James Berardinelli |url=http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/b/beverly_ninja.html |publisher=reelviews.net |access-date=2012-03-30 |archive-date=2019-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219073703/http://preview.reelviews.net/movies/b/beverly_ninja.html |url-status=live }}

Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly also criticized the film, complaining it had "...a yawner plot about Farley busting up a yen counterfeiting ring" and that"...when the writers run out of ideas, they simply have Farley walk into a lamppost, or cop from old SNL skits."{{cite news |title=Beverly Hills Ninja - Reviewed by Bruce Fretts |url=https://ew.com/article/1997/01/31/beverly-hills-ninja-2/ |publisher=ew.com |date=January 31, 1997 |access-date=2020-05-04 |archive-date=2020-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615000544/https://ew.com/article/1997/01/31/beverly-hills-ninja-2/ |url-status=live }}

A favorable review came from Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle who wrote that it is "not the kind of picture that gets respect from New York critics, but it's funny. [...] This is a movie in which the audience knows half the gags in advance, but thanks to director Dennis Dugan's timing and Farley's execution, the audience doesn't just laugh anyway, but laughs harder... he's too good, too funny and too in control of his out-of-controlness to be a mere buffoon."{{cite news|first= Mick|last= Lasalle|author-link= Mick LaSalle|title= Beverly Hills Ninja - FILM REVIEW|url= https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-REVIEW-Farley-Gets-His-Kicks-Beverly-2858773.php|publisher= sfgate.com|date= January 18, 1997|access-date= 2020-05-04|archive-date= 2020-09-25|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200925232929/https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-REVIEW-Farley-Gets-His-Kicks-Beverly-2858773.php|url-status= live}} Leonard Klady of Variety magazine wrote: "This sweet saga of an underachiever who makes good is surprisingly appealing and sure to broaden the portly comic's fan base."{{cite web |date= 26 January 1997 |last= Klady |first= Leonard |title= Beverly Hills Ninja |url= https://variety.com/review/VE1117432754 |website= Variety |access-date= 15 June 2020 |archive-date= 28 October 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121028034458/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117432754/ |url-status= live }}