Movie Review: Balls of Fury

Starring:
Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, James Hong, Robert Patrick, Thomas Lennon, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa

Director:
Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911! Miami)

MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and for language.

Release Date:
August 2007

Synopsis:
Former ping pong pro Randy Daytona is down on his luck and down on his game when FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez recruits him for a mission he can't refuse -- to smoke out the evil Feng, his father's killer. With the help of a blind ping pong sage and an expert trainer, Daytona travels to Feng's jungle compound where he'll face a raft of formidable players en route to the prize.

My Two Cents:
Nobody gives a shit about ping pong, and having a life or death ping pong tournament with Christopher Walken as the ringleader is perhaps the biggest joke of all. The best ping pong players from around the world are invited to participate in this sudden death tournament that takes place in a secret location. Sounds familiar? Well, besides the ping pong part it sounds a lot like Mortal Kombat. On top of that, the guy that personally sends out the invites is Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, the guy that played Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat movie. Isn’t that cool?

You’ll notice there are a few actors you’ve previously seen on Comedy Central’s Reno 911! and that’s because the film is directed by Robert Ben Garant, who plays Deputy Travis Junior, and also directed the movie version of that show. I happen to like Reno 911! and have enjoyed his work since he was in MTV’s The State back in 1993.

The main character, Randy Daytona, is played by Dan Fogler. He’s not as recognized as Jack Black (Shallow Hal) or Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), but that could change. This guy is pretty funny. Maybe it’s because he looks like a fat piece of shit, but he also has nice comedic timing critical to any leading funnyman. I’m looking forward to this guy in upcoming movies.



The rest of the cast does a good job of being stupid asses as well. Christopher Walken seems incapable of saying “no” to a job, so he’ll appear in every roll he is offered. That’s alright, because he really seems to have fun in this movie playing Feng, the creepy, freaky and a little gay main bad guy. James Hong plays a blind ping pong master that falls down a lot. We all saw that coming, but his lines are among the funniest. My favorite quote: “Ping Pong is not the Macarena. It takes patience. She is like a fine, well-aged prostitute. It takes years to learn her tricks. She is cruel, laughs at you when you are naked, but you keep coming back for more, and more! Why? Because she is the only prostitute I can afford...”

With a title like “Balls of Fury” you can not expect Shakespeare-like dialog or a love story like Titanic. You do get absolute stupidity, ridiculous characters and an absurd plot. Sounds like shit, I know, but it works to some degree. Some people don’t “get” comedies like this one so they bash them. I say “fuck you” to everyone that watches a comedy with “balls” in the title and expects Oscar-worthy screenplays and performances. Exchange your brain for a bowl of popcorn and you’ll find yourself laughing at the stupidity that is Balls of Fury.

Score: