Balls of Fury

Posted by fetchblog

January 2, 2008

this first appeared on www.realmoviereview.com Ben Garant joined with fellow Reno 911!er, Thomas Lennon to write this comedy, before getting behind the lens for his first feature film, while Lennon took the supporting role of German champion Karl Wolfschtagg. However, the star here is Dan Fogler, in a Jack Black kind of role as a Ping Pong protégé turned has-been, Randy Daytona. The acting is fine, and its always great to see Christopher Walken back on screen. The story is pretty much a by-the-numbers spoof of Bruce Lees Enter the Dragon, with some James Bond, Scarface and every clichéd martial arts film ever made. The script, the bread and butter of every comedy, is only passable, with more smiles and chuckles than laughs.

Randy Daytona loses the 1988 Olympic Gold medal for ping-pong, and his father on the same day, and becomes a has-been haunted by his line, Im going to Disneyland. Daytona gets another chance when he is approached by FBI agent, Ernie Rodriguez (played by George Lopez), to go undercover at an underground ping-pong tournament run by the evil criminal emperor, Feng (Walken). After a gruelling training regiment under Master Wong, played well by veteran actor, James Hong, and his daughter, Maggie (Maggie Q) who looks great and has some very cool moves.

This review has come out pretty positive, but, although there are some good characters and ideas here, there is a lack of really funny jokes and, really, in a martial arts spoof about ping-pong that is packed with more talent than Tiger Woods, it shouldnt have been that hard to get a few really good laughs.