Balls of Fury (2007)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

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 | Olympics | Competition | Murder

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:

Errors in geography: The Peppermill is not located on the downtown strip of Reno, NV.

Quotes:

Feng: Ping pong, or as the Chinese say: "Ping pong".

Movie Connections:

Spoofs "Kung Fu" (1972)

Soundtrack:

Story Of The Lantern Festival

Not the greatest "stupid movie" made, but it certainly made me giggle.

This has to be, quite possibly, the dumbest movie I have seen in a very, very long time.

However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think there was a single moment in this film that purposely wanted any smidgen of intelligence whatsoever.

And, heck, the reason I went to see this movie was because I thought it looked funny. And, guess what? I laughed. I don't know if this will go into the treasury of greatest stupid movies ever made, but it did leave me with a smile on my face.

I think it was because it was ping-pong. Yes, I like a good game of ping-pong as much as the next person, but come on. It's ping-pong. Just try telling that to these characters. The fact that anyone could take so slight a game so seriously cracked me up.

And that's where this movie works.

It's pointless, silly, and down-right brain cell killing. But I found myself forgiving everyone because they were so good-hearted in waltzing around with their idiotic humor.

No, it will probably not be nominated for Best Picture. But as for dumb comedy goes, this nicely held its own.