Balls of Fury (2007)

Down-and-out former professional ping-pong phenom, Randy Daytona, is sucked into a maelstrom when FBI Agent Ernie Rodriguez recruits him for a secret mission. Randy is determined to bounce back and win, and to smoke out his father's killer -- arch-fiend Feng.

Director:

Robert Ben Garant

Writers:

Thomas Lennon, Robert Ben Garant

Stars:

Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dan Fogler	...	Randy Daytona
Christopher Walken	...	Feng
George Lopez	...	Rodriguez
Maggie Q	...	Maggie
James Hong	...	Wong
Terry Crews	...	Freddy
Robert Patrick	...	Sgt. Pete Daytona
Diedrich Bader	...	Gary
Aisha Tyler	...	Mahogany
Thomas Lennon	...	Karl Wolfschtagg
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa	...	Mysterious Asian Man
Brett DelBuono	...	Young Randy - 12 Yrs. Old (as Brett Delbuono)
Jason Scott Lee	...	Siu-Foo
Toby Huss	...	Groundskeeper
David Holmes	...	TV Producer (as Dave Holmes)

Storyline

In the unsanctioned, underground, and unhinged world of extreme Ping-Pong, the competition is brutal and the stakes are deadly. Down-and-out former professional Ping-Pong phenom Randy Daytona is sucked into this maelstrom when FBI Agent Rodriguez recruits him for a secret mission. Randy is determined to bounce back and recapture his former glory, and to smoke out his father's killer - one of the FBI's Most Wanted, arch-fiend Feng. But, after two decades out of the game, Randy can't turn his life around and avenge his father's murder without a team of his own. He calls upon the spiritual guidance of blind Ping-Pong sage and restaurateur Wong, and the training expertise of Master Wong's wildly sexy niece Maggie, both of whom also have a dark history with Feng. All roads lead to Feng's mysterious jungle compound and the most unique Ping-Pong tournaments ever staged. There, Randy faces such formidable players as his long-ago Olympics opponent, the still-vicious Karl Wolfschtagg. Can Randy...

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Plot Keywords:

ping pong | fbi agent | olympics | murder | ball | 

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Taglines:

A huge comedy with tiny balls

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Metropolitan Films [fr] Rogue Pictures [us]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

29 August 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Una loca competencia

Filming Locations:

Long Beach, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£638,761 (UK) (28 December 2007)

Gross:

£1,945,960 (UK) (18 January 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rogue Pictures, Intrepid Pictures, Spyglass Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the movie, Christopher Walken looks at his old master, James Hong, and says that seeing him was a "blast from the past", referring to his previous movie Blast from the Past.

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Goofs

When the Chinese guard asks to use the bathroom, the guard is speaking in Korean. This could've been deliberate because Feng speaks Chinese but not Korean; as he says "What?" after the guard finishes talking, as if he didn't understand him.

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Quotes

Feng: [inviting Randy on a private tour] I won't bite... not anywhere that'll show.

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Connections

Referenced in Under the Balls: The Life of a Ball Wrangler (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Spicy Love"
Written by Gabriel Candiani & Ernesto Diaz
Courtesy of Non Stop Music Library

User Reviews

The jokes suffer from the "Kate Moss, Heather Mills McCartney, and post-2000 Muhammad Ali Syndrome."

Taxi. The Pacifier. Herbie Fully Loaded. Let's Go to Prison. Night at the Museum. If this list of movies is an accurate representation of your DVD collection, then my friends, you either have a young child in the house or a strange fetish for average-to-below average comedies. Or "absolutely dreadful" in the case of Jimmy Fallon's Taxi. *shudders* I'm still trying to erase memories of that steamer from my mind.

Other than being part of the aforementioned pathetically sad DVD collection, do you know what else each of these movies has in common? They're all written by Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, the duo who wrote, produced, and directed Balls of Fury. Are you trying to decide whether or not this is a film worthy of your time and money? Please let my above revelation stand as "enough said."

In all honesty, what can you expect when you take a poor man's Jack Black and give him the starring role in a poor man's Dodgeball? A little thing I like to refer to as "not much." Dan Fogler gives it the ol' college try, but perhaps the material is to blame for his mostly forgettable performance. He delivers a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, but by the time he's lip-synching to Def Leppard you'll be asking yourself, "So who's this guy, and why is he doing a bad karaoke impersonation of 'Jack Black Meets Sam Kinison'?"

I will give Balls of Fury three credits - 1) Maggie Q is adorable, 2) The film rightfully never takes itself too seriously, and 3) It's nowhere near as filthy as I expected. At the top of my notebook I wrote, "Balls/Genitalia References" and I was set to keep track. I just knew they were going to fly off the screen fast and furious, especially judging by the "a huge comedy with tiny balls" tagline. So I was quite shocked when the grand total was only one, and that one was merely Maggie Q's character disgustedly relaying an example of the comments she was forced to deal with from male players.

What more can I say about a film whose crowning achievement is, "Well, I didn't expect much, and it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, so whatever"? That certainly doesn't send you rushing to purchase a ticket, now does it? It'll be on TNT or TBS soon enough so just have patience and watch a few legitimately good comedies in the interim. There'll come a time when you're flipping channels, nothing else is on, and you'll cruise across this. You can decide then whether you want to sit through all of it. The end result will likely be a long email thanking me for saving you $8.

Before I commence, let me once again bring attention to my above "poor man's Dodgeball" quote. I overheard several disappointed people say, "I thought it'd be like Dodgeball." What's that? Yeah, they said it in unison, Wisenheimer. Now shut up. The consensus? It's not even close. So if that was the opinion you formed after watching the trailer then dismiss that notion immediately. It's an interesting concept that probably contains about ten minutes of solid comedic material.

What ultimately happens when you stretch that over an hour and a half? Unfortunately, the jokes suffer from what I like to call the "Kate Moss, Heather Mills McCartney, and post-2000 Muhammad Ali Syndrome." In other words, they're flat, lame, and they pack no punch. Let's see them put THAT on the DVD cover.