Balls of Fury (2007)

Simply Perfect

Must See Movie...

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) used to be a ping pong prodigy. Nineteen years earlier, he lost a big match and his father was killed by the triads for losing his bet. Today, he's a dining theater act. FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) recruits him to track down arch-criminal Feng (Christopher Walken) who is hosting an underground ping pong tournament. After initial rust, Rodriguez directs him to Wong (James Hong) and his niece Maggie (Maggie Q) for training. He is given the golden paddle as an invite to the secret tournament in Central America.This is extremely stupid. It's a little funny. It's not mean-spirited. Dan Fogler is a nice lead but not necessarily a top one. The comedy doesn't always hit. This is better than most but not really that great.

Balls of Fury (2007): Dir: Robert Ben Garant / Cast: Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, James Hong: One joke comedy about smaller factors conquering the masses. Dan Fogler plays a washed out ping-pong player recruited by FBI to go undercover at a ping-pong tournament in order to bring down his father's murderer. Funny setup becomes repetitious and perhaps too carefree in the third act. Director Robert Ben Garant throws in every martial arts joke he can but his biggest aid is the mock production that add both look and satire appeal. Fogler loses his passion only to find it again. He aims to avenge his father's death but becomes embarked upon many amusing training sessions that often place him in pain. To say that he wins the tournament and avenges his father is obvious. What works is Christopher Walken who is terrific as the underground tyrant out to create fatal tournaments for pleasure not realizing that his past is catching up to him. George Lopez as an FBI agent is a great idea but the role is pretty routine. Maggie Q plays the daughter of Fogler's blind trainer, which is to say that her existence is purely as a sexual tease with predictable results. James Hong provides much amusement as Fogler's trainer of sort, whose methods provide some of the best laughs. Well made satire of martial arts films using a harmless sport to more devastating results. Score: 6 ½ / 10

Now I do enjoy this film to a certain extent but due to a lot of things it is just distinctly average and really fails to push through to the levels of other comedies like Anchorman or Dodgeball. Now the guy that they got to play Randy Daytona in this film I have not heard of now or ever but he is functional in this film and has some good funny moments but it does leave you with the wish that somebody of Jack Black or Will Ferrell's calibre had been chosen to play the role. The side characters are really good with Christopher Walken totally stealing his scenes and having the best and most outrageous lines in the film, also his wardrobe is awesome in this film. George Lopez is a good addition with some good lines even though his character is a bit simple. The trainer and love interest are good as well even though you don't buy the romance at all she still is cool and the trainer has some funny lines. The story is just lazy it is so basic it is unreal and it doesn't have any real interesting dynamics and it is definitely not one of the positives of the film which can take away from the film. The script is like what you would expect solid though some of the lines aren't really that good and it doesn't hit like it should. The style is a mixed bag as the costumes for some of the characters are pretty cool but it is so stereotypical and a bit insulting with its interpretation that doesn't really add to the film. Overall Balls of Fury is an average film that will give a couple of laughs.

There are probably those that say that a little feature of the sport of table tennis, like in Forrest Gump, is as far as it will go, it's not exactly a game of football or golf, but it happened! Basically Randy Daytona used to be a champion Ping Pong pro when the game was made an official sport in 1988, but then his father is killed and he stops playing. Now grown up, Randy (Dan Fogler) can only make money doing hardly watched magic tricks involving his skill, but they may have some better use when he is met by FBI Agent Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez). He is recruiting Randy for a secret mission to get close to Most Wanted fiend Feng (Christopher Walken), who is also responsible for the death of Randy's father. To get a bit more professional practise before seeing the villain, Randy gets some guidance from blind but wise Ping Pong expert Master Wong (James Hong), and is trained by his feisty daughter Maggie (Die Hard 4.0's Maggie Q). Eventually, Randy is ready to face Feng, entering his mysterious jungle compound and the most unique Ping Pong tournaments, facing fierce players, like old opponent Karl Wolfschtagg (Thomas Lennon). I admit that I dozed off about half-way through, and I woke up pretty much at the conclusion, where Feng is defeated in a final game of Ping Pong on an unstable rope bridge, and that's about it. Also starring Norbit's Terry Crews as Freddy, Robert Patrick as Sgt. Pete Daytona and Jason Scott Lee as Siu-Foo. Walken is an alright camp villain, if a little ridiculous, the Enter the Dragon inspired stuff is silly, and just the whole idea of basing a film around Ping Pong does seem very slippery, so it's a sports comedy flop for me. Adequate!