Balls of Fury - A Backhanded Sports Comedy

Jan

9

Balls of Fury - A Backhanded Sports Comedy

≡ Category: Comedy, Movie Reviews By Country, Satire, United States, Worth A Look |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: United States
Genre: Comedy/Satire
Director: Robert Ben Garant
Year: 2007

Rating:

WORTH A LOOK

When I sat down to watch Balls of Fury, I was expecting a spectacularly stupid sports comedy, and Balls of Fury certainly is that, but it’s a lot more.

Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) is a fat, washed up 80s ping pong prodigy who has been reduced to playing Vegas (don’t ask). He’s called on by FBI agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) to help infiltrate the gang of ping pong mad criminal mastermind Feng (Christopher Walken) with the assistance of blind ping pong sifu Wong (an amazingly straightfaced James Hong) and his niece Maggie (Maggie Q).

The setup allows writer/director Robert Ben Garant to freely mock Hong Kong martial arts spectaculars, James Bond movies, and 80s era low culture, in no particular order.

Much of the humor derives from the absurd juxtapositions of different genres. For example, the very idea of ping pong being associated with a criminal mastermind is rather humorous in and of itself.

Another strand of humor has to do with how the writer either fulfills or subverts genre expectations. There is a long tradition of casting non-asian actors to play Chinese people, especially in the James Bond series. The choice of Christopher Walken to play Feng is inspired, as is his poofy hairstyle. Walken’s Hoboken, New Jersey delivery is priceless in this context. On the other hand, how often do you see a Latino FBI agent in a James Bond adventure?

I don’t want to give away the best jokes, so let’s just say that if you are a fan of the James Bond series and Hong Kong cinema in general, have a high tolerance for broad comedy, and think the 80s were the nadir of American culture, you just might enjoy Balls of Fury. I didn’t exactly bust a gut laughing, but I chuckled appreciately throughout the picture.

It will probably also help if you’re stoned.

I’ve only given Balls of Fury 2 1/2 stars because you have to pretty much be the exact target audience to make watching it worth your while.

By the way, I just thought I’d mention that computer graphics imagery (CGI) is used responsibly in Balls of Fury. There are a ton of impossible ping pong stunts throughout the picture. Clearly, the actors mimed the movements with ping pong paddles and the balls were added in post production. It looks perfectly photorealistic and provides quite a few laughs.