(Tommy Boy)

Grade:

A

If you have ever muted a TV show/movie and reinvented the dialogue with your friends to make it funnier, you could have had your own cable show.

Somewhere in between "South Park," "Jackass" and a Method Man and Redman album is Much Music USA's new television program and DVD "Kung Faux." The creators consist of graphic designers, graffiti artists, video editors and rappers.

What they do is boil all the action from an old, cheesy Kung Fu movie down into a easily digestible half-hour episode, add cool graphics and "Pop-Up Video" effects, then dub over all the original lines with hip-hop lingo, while still staying true to the original plot of the movie.

For instance, lets say there is a meeting between a Kung Fu master and his apprentice. Instead of "Oh, Daniel Son, you must catch fly before you break every bone in that guy," the dialogue would be something like: "Yo, son, why you trippin'? I'll teach you game, but first you gotta earn this shit, dig?" Needless to say, it is a riot.

The show gives a voice to living room banter with pinpoint accuracy. For example, in many old Kung Fu flicks there is the character of the older, wiser mentor who is always smoking a pipe. The show does not play down the subtle drug reference; in fact, it bases a character's personality on that one idea. That old master in Kung Faux is said to be "smoking the sticky, icky" and talks like Tommy Chong.

I'm not sure how this is going to fly on television, but the promo DVD (which will also be available in stores April 8) includes expletives and various drug references that would not usually be able to be shown on any TV channel except HBO. Then again, they got "The Osbournes" to fly and there's no doubt that will be a huge hit for the network. It just goes to show, never underestimate the endless possibilities that lie in goofing off.