Beverly Hills Ninja (1997)

14% of critics liked it
(28 reviews)
54% of users liked it
(293,631 ratings)

Chris Farley stars as an unusual ninja fighter in this over-the-top comedy. An elite society of Japanese warriors have prophesied that one day a blonde-haired, fair-skinned child will come to their village and lead them as a fighter of remarkable skill and bravery. So when an American child who fell… More Chris Farley stars as an unusual ninja fighter in this over-the-top comedy. An elite society of Japanese warriors have prophesied that one day a blonde-haired, fair-skinned child will come to their village and lead them as a fighter of remarkable skill and bravery. So when an American child who fell overboard on an ocean liner washes up on their shores, they adopt him as one of their own and patiently instruct him in the ways of a ninja. Trouble is, the child, whom they name Haru (Chris Farley), grows up to be fat, clumsy, not especially bright, and startlingly inept as a warrior. Undaunted, Haru struggles on with his ninja training, and when Alison (Nicolette Sheridan), a beautiful woman from America, requests a ninja fighter to return with her to the States and protect her from her criminal-minded boyfriend and his Yakuza associates, Haru eagerly accepts the assignment. Haru's minders see trouble brewing, so they secretly send along a fellow ninja, Gobei (Robin Shou), to watch his back, although this hardly prevents Haru from posing a deadly menace to inanimate objects everywhere. Jackie Chan was at one time announced to co-star in this film, which would prove to be the last Chris Farley vehicle released before his death in late 1997, though two other films he completed before his passing were released in 1998. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Dennis Dugan
Genres: Action & Adventure, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 17, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Mar 6, 2001
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Farley, a real lightweight compared to such late, great predecessors John Belushi and John Candy, brings none of Belushi's edgy intelligence, nor Candy's gentle pathos to this comic caricature.
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
A satisfying and sturdy vehicle for Farley that ought to please his fans, youngsters especially.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
A silly movie, with silly jokes and a silly story. But the talents at work in it are not silly.
Jeff Millar, Houston Chronicle
The humor the premise throws off is supposed to be funny. It just isn't.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Farley might want to be like John Candy, but, while Candy knew how to make an audience laugh, Farley keeps missing the mark.
John Hartl, Film.com
This formulaic tale of a ninja klutz trying to break a counterfeit ring can be recommended only to undemanding children, and even they may find it a drag.
Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat
Maybe Death did Chris Farley a favor by sparing him from making more shit like this
Fred Topel, About.com
Disappointing Farley vehicle. Not much humor, and the action isn't much.
Audrey Rock-Richardson, Tooele Transcript-Bulletin (Utah)
I think I might have laughed once. Or twice.
Scott Weinberg, eFilmCritic.com
Chris Farley may not have been the world's most versatile comedian, but he sure as heck deserved better material than THIS!

Read all 10 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Lucas M

Chris Farley more one time make other silly comedy, but Beverly Hills Ninja doesn't have one single not funny scene and entertaining, something rare in an American comedy movie from 90's. Beverly Hills is not the best movie by Farley, that was a unique and terrific comedian,… More
Chris Farley more one time make other silly comedy, but Beverly Hills Ninja doesn't have one single not funny scene and entertaining, something rare in an American comedy movie from 90's. Beverly Hills is not the best movie by Farley, that was a unique and terrific comedian, but definitely isn't the worst and promise all the time great laughs. Fresh.
Jeff "

An average comedy from late comedian Chris Farley. Stupid in every respect, but still lots of fun, Chris Farley delivers yet another silly performance. Beverly Hills Ninja may not be Chris Farley's best effort, but it definitely has good enough moments to make you laugh. He does… More
An average comedy from late comedian Chris Farley. Stupid in every respect, but still lots of fun, Chris Farley delivers yet another silly performance. Beverly Hills Ninja may not be Chris Farley's best effort, but it definitely has good enough moments to make you laugh. He does all his usual antics here, and he definitely knows how to make you laugh. Beverly Hills Cop is not a perfect film, but it has enough good moments to make you laugh and enjoy yourself. Chris Farley was good comedian and he always managed to make me laugh. Beverly Hills Cop isn't his greatest film, but it definitely isn't his worst. There's enough laughs in this film to make this a decent comedy, and despite the fact that it slows down somewhat, there's enough elements to enjoy in this wacky comedy to be entertained. Sadly this would be one of Chris Farley's last film roles, as he would pass away the same year from a drug overdose. Looking back at his short career, he has made quite a few memorable comedy films. Never perfect, but funny enough to uplift your mood. Beverly Hills Ninja is such a film, though not his best, this film has plenty of good, funny elements to deliver you a great time. What do you expect from an eccentric comedian such as Chris Farley? He was unique and watching his films, you'll understand why. Beverly Hills Ninja is a fun comedy with good laughs and has everything you'd expect from a Chris Farley film, however my personal favorite of his, is Tommy Boy.
Alexander D

Do you know how uncomfortable I feel watching a quote-unquote "comedy" flick in which the actors A) are never in character and B) are pervasively laughing at their own jokes which C) aren't at all funny? Well, on the uncomfortableness scale of 1 to 10 (10 being… More
Do you know how uncomfortable I feel watching a quote-unquote "comedy" flick in which the actors A) are never in character and B) are pervasively laughing at their own jokes which C) aren't at all funny? Well, on the uncomfortableness scale of 1 to 10 (10 being extremely uncomfortable, 1 being extremely comfortable), I was at around a 9.75 watching BEVERLY HILLS NINJA. No joke. I did not laugh once, and I was creeped out by the characters' "auto-laughter" as well as their constant attempt and failure to break the fourth wall in all the most disturbing ways possible.
Chris W

This is funny and entertaining, even if it is a little dumb and silly. I won't deny that it's derivative and predicatble, but it ad me laughingmy ass off, so that counts for something. I miss Chris Farley. This may not be his best film, but it definitely is a reminder of how… More
This is funny and entertaining, even if it is a little dumb and silly. I won't deny that it's derivative and predicatble, but it ad me laughingmy ass off, so that counts for something. I miss Chris Farley. This may not be his best film, but it definitely is a reminder of how funny and entertaining he was.
Eric S

Chris Farley as the "great white ninja" who is drawn to Beverly Hills, CA to save his "dove" Alison(Nicolette Sheridan) from the clutches of her counterfeiting, murderous boyfriend. From his undercover guises as a sushi shef and ink specialist, this film is yet… More
Chris Farley as the "great white ninja" who is drawn to Beverly Hills, CA to save his "dove" Alison(Nicolette Sheridan) from the clutches of her counterfeiting, murderous boyfriend. From his undercover guises as a sushi shef and ink specialist, this film is yet another Chris Farley classic with plenty of laughs to go around. Chris's agility has always amazed me despite his size, but then again, we're talking about a brilliant comedian who gave everything he did 150%. If you've missed this one, I recommend it highly.
Tim S

Funny at times, but less than satisfying.
KJ P

Amazing comedy, terrible plot line! I Loved It!
Wahida K

I dont know what is worster my taste in the Movies or the fact that this movie was ever made.
Lenny M

Sucks but its got Farley, Liu Kang, and Chris Rock at least so it's kind of awesome.
Nani V

Have to watch it agian.
danny d

funny, i miss that chris farley, he and chris rock were good together
Bradley W

Beverly Hills Ninja is a comedy that does not try to anything more than dumb. I love Chris Farley, I wish he were still alive today to make us laugh but he is not, and to be honest he is the only thing that is good about the film. Everything about the film is poorly done but even for… More
Beverly Hills Ninja is a comedy that does not try to anything more than dumb. I love Chris Farley, I wish he were still alive today to make us laugh but he is not, and to be honest he is the only thing that is good about the film. Everything about the film is poorly done but even for the stupid stuff Chris Farley made funny. The way I saw this, it was one very long SNL skit that was funny but very boring. The story follows Haru (Chris Farley) who has lived in a dojo and trained to be a ninja since infancy, but he is clumsy and lazy which has made him a poor ninja. When a woman asks for his help however, he must go to America to help her and complete his mission and prove himself a true ninja. The plot is simple minded and dumb, but I expected nothing less from a Dennis Dugan comedy. Every moment I was not caring what was going on, all I cared about was getting a laugh, and I think its impossible not to laugh at Chris Farley. The characters are all really pointless but I think Farley was given a role that would have been pointless without him. Im pretty sure we all expected this not to be a very interesting comedy, and of course it turned out to be a movie that we would just laugh with Chris Farley. The cast consists of Chris Farley and then a bunch of other people we simply do not care about. Chris Farley is one of my favorite old comedians, he is able to take pointless and stupid scripts like this and Tommy Boy and make them funny movies. Tommy Boy had a funny actor like David Spade however while they have Chris Rock in this and he does not do or say anything funny. If you are looking for a movie where Chris Farley will make you laugh this is it, but he is the only person who made me laugh and is the only interesting and funny cast member. Beverly Hills Ninja is a movie that gets by on using Chris Farley as the main star. He would be one of the funniest comedians out there if he were still alive, possibly bigger than Adam Sandler. But this is not as good as Tommy Boy because of the cast, there were some seriously funny actors in Tommy Boy why this just uses Farley and nobody else. I wish I could have liked this but truthfully it just was not a good comedy unless you can watch a 90 minute movie of just laughing at Chris Farley.
Bryan D

Beverly Hills Ninja is a film I would never have seen if I wasn't a Chris Farley addict. Is it funny, yes. I guess. It's not as good as it could be, and the comedy is lightly sprinkled on a ridiculous story. Chris Farley is fun to watch, and Chris Rock is a delight. But… More
Beverly Hills Ninja is a film I would never have seen if I wasn't a Chris Farley addict. Is it funny, yes. I guess. It's not as good as it could be, and the comedy is lightly sprinkled on a ridiculous story. Chris Farley is fun to watch, and Chris Rock is a delight. But overall, it's a meh, film. And, in all honesty, If this wasn't a Chris Farley movie, it would have gotten a much lower rating.
Stephen E

Oh, come on, critics. It's pretty funny.
Juan C

another hillarous chris farley comic classic! laugh out loud hillarious and sweetheartingly rausous, you just can't stop laughing! A
Deb S

Chris Farley stars as the Great White Ninja; an unlikely hero because not only is he's Caucasian, he's also overweight and incapable, and thus not very suitable as a ninja. The humor can be very childish and silly but Chris Farley is hilarious as the bumbling,… More
Chris Farley stars as the Great White Ninja; an unlikely hero because not only is he's Caucasian, he's also overweight and incapable, and thus not very suitable as a ninja. The humor can be very childish and silly but Chris Farley is hilarious as the bumbling, "White' ninja. Nicolette Sheridan is the sexy elusive woman who goes to Japan and hires Farley to secretly spy on her boyfriend (Nathaniel Parker) who she suspects may have killed her sister and Robin Shou and Chris Rock are fairly amusing.
Stephen E

Oh, come on, critics. It's pretty funny.
Sarah P

Probably Chris Farley's worst movie. I didn't enjoy it.
matt s

COCAINE!
Ira Z

I'm sorry. I know this movie is terrible. But I just love Chris Farley.