Balls of Fury Serves Bad Comedy
Comic Look at Extreme Ping-Pong Keeps Hitting the Net
Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon collaborated on this new comedy, but even the two "Reno 911!" stars can make this film consistently funny.
“Reno 911!” stars Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon should be spanked with ping-pong paddles for making such a mediocre comedy as “Balls of Fury.”
A look at the secret world of underground ping-pong, director Garant and co-writer Lennon parody “The Matrix” and other films that rely heavily on “wire-fu,” a filmmaking technique in which actors accomplish spectacular kung fu moves with the help of wires and pulleys. Unfortunately, every time this duo serves up a joke, it flies off the table.
Tony Award-winner Dan Fogler stars as Randy Daytona, a one-time ping-pong champion who disgraced himself and his country at the 1988 Olympic Games. Daytona’s spectacular loss also cost him his father (Robert Patrick), a military man who bet heavily on Randy’s match and paid the ultimate price.
Years pass and Randy now makes a meager living by entertaining guests at a Reno resort with ping-pong tricks worthy of Forrest Gump. FBI Agent Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez) then contacts Daytona and asks him to help bring down Feng (Christopher Walken), the international arms dealer who killed Randy’s father.
In addition to running guns, Feng loves ping-pong and hosts an invitation-only event every year. Agent Rodriguez wants Randy to get back on the ping-pong circuit, win some matches and attract Feng’s attention so the FBI can gather evidence against Feng but Randy is so rusty that he can’t compete even on a non-professional level.
Agent Rodriguez then takes the former champion to Master Wong (James Hong), a blind ping-pong instructor and Feng’s former teacher. Wong’s top pupil is Maggie (Maggie Q), a ping-pong prodigy who can take on 4 competitors at once and answer the phone at the same time.
Randy hones his skills with Master Wong and Maggie and beats a top champion, which earns him the golden paddle of admission to the underground ping-pong match. Unfortunately, no one told Randy that every match in Feng’s competition is fought to the death.
Except for a few laughs scattered throughout the film, “Balls of Fury” is easily one of the weakest comedies to arrive in theaters in a long time.
Co-writer Thomas Lennon, who plays the shorts-wearing Lt. Jim Dangle on “Reno 911!”, has some nice moments as Karl Wolfschtagg, a foreign ping-pong champion who wears outfits so tight that they leave little to the imagination.
Hong Kong action star Maggie Q also has some nice moments as Randy Daytona’s love interest, but as the evil villain Feng, Christopher Walken is merely Christopher Walken in a Fu Manchu outfit.
Like their fictional ping-pong hero Randy Daytona, Garant and Lennon fail to live up to the extremely high expectations of "Balls of Fury." Fans of their "Reno 911!" work will not be satisfied with this half-hearted attempt at sports comedy.
“Balls of Fury,” rated PG-13 for crude and sex–related humor and for language, opens nationwide on Wednesday, August 29.
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