|
'Ball of Fury' movie review |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Steven Rea, MCT
|
|
Thursday, 30 August 2007 |
|
|
|
|
 ___
BALLS OF FURY
2 ½ stars
With Dan Fogler, Maggie Q, George Lopez, James Hong and Christopher Walken. PG-13 (profanity, comic violence, adult themes).
___
"Welcome to the underbelly of ping-pong," says the sage Chinese master — make that the blind sage Chinese master — in the latest merrily stupid sports comedy, Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant's "Balls of Fury."
A flagrant steal of the Bruce Lee martial arts classic "Enter the Dragon," this goofball farce substitutes table tennis for kung fu, as a skilled paddler infiltrates a crime king's lavish lair, using ping-pong prowess as a calling card.
Dan Fogler, a Tony winner for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," makes his segue from stage to screen, starring as Randy Daytona, a ping-pong champion gone to seed, and offered redemption when he's recruited by the FBI. Fogler, a comic actor in the tradition of John Belushi and Jack Black (slobby, eye-rolling, funny), carries "Balls of Fury" fairly effortlessly, and Christopher Walken does his shtick as the villainous Feng — a gun-running ping-pong obsessive whose wardrobe represents a sartorial mind-meld between latter-day Elvis and the most flamboyant Fu Manchu.
James Hong, who has gamely parodied his countrymen in "Seinfeld" and "Airplane!," plays the Chinatown restaurateur and ping-pong guru Wong. He offers kernels of wisdom to his paunchy protege — and runs him through a rigorous training program that includes locking Daytona in a freezer with a swarm of bees and a fly swatter. A lithe Maggie Q is Randy's improbable love interest — she plays Maggie, Master Wong's niece, and Master Wong's number one student. Her backhand is to die for.
And George Lopez is onboard as the FBI guy who gets Daytona to go undercover, and then tags along on his adventures in Feng's palatial Central American digs.
Co-writers Garant and Lennon are the perps behind "Reno 911!," and while "Balls of Fury" is slightly more sophisticated in its comic strategies, "slightly" remains the operative word. (Lennon also co-stars as Randy Daytona's long-ago Olympics nemesis, East German Karl Wolfschtagg.) Garant directs, deploying furious ping-pong vollies and spurious pastiches of the underdog genre.
Even at just 90 minutes, "Balls of Fury" — with its caricatures of the Asian underworld, with its G-man malarkey and gay jokes (Feng keeps an all-boy bevy of sex slaves) — begins to outstay its welcome.
But when the tournament that brings together the world's best ping-pong players begins, it's hard not to laugh as Daytona realizes the fate awaiting the loser in each round.
"You killed him!" he yelps to Walken's Feng, as another ping-ponger bites the dust.
"What part of `sudden death' didn't you understand?" comes the actor's dry riposte. | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
