2008 Woodie Awards
Movie review: Balls of Fury
A comedy with tiny balls
Mariah Tess
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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The story follows Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler), a former table tennis phenomenon, who at age 12 represented the U.S. at the 1988 Olympics. Defeated by nemesis Karl Wolfschtagg (Thomas Lennon) and failing his country and his father, he disappeared from the public eye, doing ping pong tricks for dinner matinees to get by.
That is, until FBI Agent Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez) offers him a key role in a mission to bring down criminal mastermind/ping pong enthusiast, Master Feng (Christopher Walken). Randy goes into training with Master Wong (James Hong) and his niece, Maggie (Maggie Q) to prepare for a ping pong tournament hosted by Feng at his private compound, in which only the world's finest players are allowed.
The plot itself is somewhat weak and unrealistic. The story seems rushed along; there is not much character or story development. If I had not added the characters' profiles on Myspace and read up on the movie that way, I'd have had a lot harder time comprehending what was going on and why.
The movie is only 90 minutes long, but then again, there is not much to work with in a movie about ping pong. More time could have been taken to add necessary details that were definitely lacking.
As for the comedy, the whole movie itself is kind of a joke. The parts that actually were funny were mostly simplistic/stupid humor. If you are looking to have a good, hard laugh or to enjoy a thorough storyline, do not see "Balls of Fury". If you are looking for a short, simple story with a few giggles to pass an hour and a half, go see it. Better yet, save a few dollars and rent it on DVD.
Review results: 3 out of 5 fish.
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