Movie Review for Balls of Fury (2007)

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Review #516 of 365
Movie Review of Balls of Fury (2007) [PG-13] 90 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.00
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 30 August 2007
Time: 8:10 pm
DVD Release Date: 18 December 2007 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Ben Garant (Reno 911!: Miami)
Written by: Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!: Miami) • Ben Garant (Reno 911!: Miami)

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Dan Fogler (School for Scoundrels) • Christopher Walken (Hairspray) • George Lopez ("George Lopez") • Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard) • James Hong (One Night with You) • Terry Crews (Norbit) • Robert Patrick (Bridge to Terabithia) • Diedrich Bader (Surf's Up) • Aisha Tyler (The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause) • Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!: Miami) • Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Memoirs of a Geisha) • Brett DelBuono ("Kidnapped")

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Partially a case of low expectations and partly as case of a genuinely comedic film, Balls of Fury ping pongs its way to being a better film that its crude moniker, "A big comedy with tiny balls" would suggest. From the minds for Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Reno 911! Fame and also responsible for the less than stellar spring 2007 film, Reno 911!: Miami, this film will have to paddle up stream, with ping pong paddles, of course to get noticed. The brilliant marketing campaign, however, may not be enough for it to surge at the box office the way it might have had it been released much earlier in the summer or later in the fall.

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"…vastly exceeded expectations and was surprisingly in its ability to entertain without relying excessively on gross-out humor or baseless stereotypes."

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Which is sort of a shame because it shades better than most of the other summer comedies. Healthy irreverence, a kooky but different plot, and an unlikely super star in Dan Fogler, all coalesce nicely to make Balls of Fury the best comedy about ping pong of the year.

The story starts off cleverly with the 1988 USA Ping Pong champ hopeful, Randy Daytona (Brett DelBuono), losing at the Seoul Olympics in the semi finals because he learns his father Sgt. Pete Daytona (Robert Patrick) has gambled on his match with some rather nefarious looking men. He 'chokes' to the German contender, Karl Wolfschtagg (Thomas Lennon), trips over a court divider, and knocks himself unconscious on the floor. When he awakes, they ask him if he knows how he's doing to which he replies "I'm going to Disneyland." This becomes a source of humiliation for him for the rest of his life with everyone constantly asking him if he enjoyed Disneyland. Making matters worse, the nefarious men kill his father who cannot repay the gambling debt.

Years later, he hasn't amounted to much, and he has totally given up on ping pong. That is until the semi-washed up FBI agent, Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez), corners him with a proposal to get back at the men who killed his father and reclaim his ping pong fame. It takes the grown up Randy (Dan Fogler) some time to warm up to the idea. It turns out that the most wanted man, Mr. Feng (Christopher Walken) hosts an annual ping pong tournament, invitation only, for the world's top players. If Randy can get an invitation, then the FBI will have its necessary way into his organization. Unfortunately, in Randy's case, its going to take more than desire to get this invite as he's become rusty after years without practice. His only touch with ping pong as been a Reno casino act where he bounces ping pong balls off a wall.

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"…showcases the real writing and directing talents of Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon far better than the 'Reno 911!' franchise."

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After losing the district-qualifying tournament that would have won him a birth in state and the attention of Mr. Feng's organization, Agent Rodriguez decides to call out the big guns and enroll Randy in Master Wong's ping pong school. Master Wong (James Hong) is an elderly blind man with the reputation of having trained some of the world's leading ping pong players, including, incidentally, Mr. Feng in his youth. He does not want to teach the white boy, Randy, but eventually caves in when he sees a spark of talent and the chance to avenge his honor with Feng. Randy's training will not be easy making the Karate Kids coaching seem like summer fun day camp. Equally distracting is Wong's niece, Maggie (Maggie Q), whose beauty and skills with a ping pong are nearly unrivaled in the city. Eventually, though, Randy grows and regains his skills. He receives his golden paddle invite to Feng's tournament after defeating Reno Chinatown's best player known only as The Dragon. This invite includes a coach and a trainer, so Wong and Rodriguez are able to go along with Randy and Rodriguez able to sneak in homing signal transmitters the 'old fashioned' way. The tournament holds many twists for Randy on a personal and physical level. There will be grave danger and lives in the balance as Feng's tournament puts a new spin on the expression of 'sudden death'.

Balls of Fury showcases the real writing and directing talents of Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon far better than the "Reno 911!" franchise. It's funny without being too gross or irreverent. Randy Daytona was a perfect fit for Dan Fogler who shares a lot of physical traits with Jack Black, only better because his sweeter side is more believable. It's still hard to imagine Maggie Q kissing him, for example, yet his tender, less smarmy side is less corrosive than Mr. Black's. Meanwhile, James Hong comes through big time in the crucial role of the Master. He's a character actor that's been around forever, yet this role could be his most fun and well developed ever. Most people will gravitate toward either throwing kudos toward Christopher Walken's portrayal of Feng or hurling hate about him playing himself in film after film, both of which he sort of deserves. Other real cast standouts included: Aisha Tyler as Mahogany, Feng's blow dart gun-wielding assistant--her accuracy with the darts is only surpassed by her incredible beauty and no-nonsense mystique; George Lopez as Rodriguez, Maggie Q as Maggie Wong, and co-writer Thomas Lennon as Karl Wolfschtagg—the guy who brought Randy Daytona back to earth by defeating him as a little kid. Balls of Fury turned out to be a creative comedy that vastly exceeded expectations and was surprisingly in its ability to entertain without relying excessively on gross-out humor or baseless stereotypes. To its credit, the cast was highly diverse culturally, with good guys and bad guys that didn’t follow older paradigms. It wasn't incredibly hilarious. It didn't walk startling new comedic paths. Still, it was more entertaining than the trailer, and the writers and director made choices that elevated the film above the more common entries into the genre.

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Related Products from Amazon.com

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Other Projects Featuring Balls of Fury (2007)
Cast Members
Dan Fogler • Christopher Walken • George Lopez
Maggie Q • James Hong • Terry Crews
Robert Patrick • Diedrich Bader • Aisha Tyler
Thomas Lennon • Brett DelBuono
Director
Ben Garant
Writers
Thomas Lennon • Ben Garant

CD soundtrack	DVD	VHS
Poster	Wii Videogame

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Review-lite Balls of Fury (2007) [max of 150 words]

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From the comedy minds of the Reno 911! guys Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon comes a new comedy patterned after the Kung Fu films of old supplanting much of the martial arts action with a mad skillz ping pong. Christopher Walken plays the evil villain, Mr. Feng, responsible for the death of USA Olympic ping pong hopeful Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) and now he's been recruited by the FBI to help them catch Feng by planting Randy in Feng's super secret private world ping pong competition. What Randy doesn't know is that it's a real celebrity death match. The film is surprising better and exceeded expectations than either the trailer or the previous year's outing by this comedy team, Reno 911!: Miami, would have enabled predictions. By far, neither the best comedy nor the worst of the summer of 2007, it has some good parts and some redundant.

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