New York ? Hong Kong filmmaker Stephen Chow has a specific, albeit risky, approach to writing a screenplay.

“I’m always trying to come up with unpredictable things to spring on the audience, as long as they don’t ruin the structure of the story,” he says. “For me, a movie is like a test to see how far you can push things. Sometimes it works great. And when it doesn’t, you just try something else and see what happens.”

In the case of Chow’s latest film, “Kung Fu Hustle,” which opens today, the strategy worked very well. Exuberant, outrageously inventive entertainment, the movie is set in 1940s Shanghai and centers on a small-time hood (played by Chow) who tries to intimidate the residents of a slum by pretending to be a member of the fearsome Axe Gang. But the ploy backfires when the real gang shows up, resulting in all-out war.

The protracted mayhem that ensues is replete with chop-socky violence, slapstick humor, cartoonish special effects, flashes of poignant melodrama — even a musical number or two. In both style and tone, “Kung Fu Hustle” pays cheeky homage to the movies Chow adored as a child, from Bruce Lee to the Shaw Brothers. But “Kung Fu Hustle” is also stuffed with tributes to Hollywood, including a prominent nod to “Road Runner” cartoons and a reenactment of one of the most indelible images from Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”

Borrowing from the West

American filmmakers have long been raiding Asian films for inspiration, from the wire-fighting choreography of the “Matrix” trilogy and Quentin Tarantino’s samurai-flavored “Kill Bill” to the ongoing boom of English-language remakes of Japanese horror films (“The Ring,” “The Grudge”). “Kung Fu Hustle,” however, may be the first large-scale Asian film that returns the favor, borrowing instantly recognizable elements from Western pop culture and injecting them into a formula steeped in cinematic Hong Kong staples.

It’s that cultural melding — along with Chow’s creative daring — that makes “Kung Fu Hustle” feel like a lot more than just another martial arts comedy. Distributor Sony Pictures Classics, which scored its biggest box-office hit to date ($128 million) when it released Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in the United States in 2000, is opening “Kung Fu Hustle” on more than 2,000 screens across the country on Friday, banking on its crossover potential beyond the arthouse market.

“This is not the kind of film that is going to run for the Best Picture Oscar, but it is an Asian movie that has a very unique vision,” says Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics. “It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen before, and you can’t stop talking about it afterwards. It’s one of those landmark movies that will spawn a lot of imitations over the next few years.”

If “Kung Fu Hustle” becomes a hit in the United States, it will also bring Chow a mainstream audience that, for now, remains unfamiliar with his work. Sitting in the lobby of Manhattan’s Four Seasons Hotel, Chow, 42, slips by unrecognized. Neatly dressed in a black jacket and slacks, it’s hard to believe the slim, soft-spoken man is the biggest movie star in Asia.

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Embracing comedy

Born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong, Chow began to study martial arts at 13, specifically wingchun, the same style of kung fu his idol Bruce Lee practiced. After some television work, he made his film acting debut in 1988’s “Final Justice,” but it wasn’t until he shifted to comedy that he became a superstar, earning comparisons to everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Jim Carrey. By the time he made his directorial debut in 1994’s “King of Destruction” (“I wanted to have more control of my movies,” he says about the move behind the camera), Chow had starred in more than 50 films.

Despite his success on his native turf, however, none of Chow’s movies had received U.S. distribution until “Shaolin Soccer,” a bright and winning comedy about a team of soccer players with heightened athletic abilities. Although it was made in 2001, Miramax Films didn’t get around to releasing it until last year in an edited, simplified version that, backed by a curiously timid ad campaign, grossed less than $500,000.

High stakes

“Kung Fu Hustle” has already grossed $66 million in Asia, and last month racked up a record 16 nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards (equivalent to the Oscars), where it stole the Best Picture prize from Wong Kar-Wai’s critically acclaimed “2046.”

“I made this movie for a mass audience, but at the same time, it’s very personal,” Chow says. “Some movies achieve great commercial success, and other movies win a lot of awards and you go home broke. In Asia, we got great box-office and a lot of critical acclaim, which is unusual. But this was the exception and I was very happy. Let’s see what happens here.”