Balls of Fury (2007)

Director:

Robert Ben Garant

Writers (WGA):

Thomas Lennon (written by) &
Robert Ben Garant (written by)

Release Date:

29 August 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

A huge comedy with tiny balls

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Ping Pong | FBI Agent | Competition | Murder | Olympics

Cast

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)

MPAA:

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

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (# 43255) | Ireland:12A | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Finland:K-11 | Argentina:13 | Canada:PG (Canadian Home Video rating) | Netherlands:6 | Australia:PG | Iceland:7 | Iceland:L (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Rogue Pictures

Trivia:

As mentioned in the movie, it is forbidden for Wong to teach ping pong to "gwai lo". This is most likely a reference to Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) starring Jason Scott Lee. Bruce was forbidden by the elders to teach martial arts to anyone other than Asians. Jason Scott Lee appears in "Balls of Fury" as Siu-Foo.

Goofs:

Factual errors: At the Olympics, a country would be identified with its official national name. "East Germany" would not have been used in official Olympic announcements. Karl Wolfschtagg would have been introduced as a competitor from the "German Democratic Republic."

Quotes:

Karl Wolfschtagg: Daytona, I have said some cruel things about you. To my friends here at the tournament, I tell them that the reason that you hate me so much, is because I had sex with your mother.
Randy Daytona: My mother died when I was two. I hardly knew her.
Karl Wolfschtagg: Yeah I know it's a horrible thing to say. And yet these things that I say over and over again... I do not mean them. Because in truth, you are the greatest player I have ever scene. Other than myself, practicing in front of a mirror. Which I do... everyday... in the nude. I'm sorry for you, that your papa is not here to see you. I think he would be very proud of you.
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Tang shan da xiong (1971)

Soundtrack:

Chikara

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.