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

Colour:

Colour

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:

In the movie, Christopher Walken looks at his old master, James Hong, and says that seeing him was a "blast from the past", referring to his previous movie Blast from the Past (1999).

Goofs:

Factual errors: In individual Olympic sports, competitors are identified by their names, not by their nations (as many individual sports would have multiple competitors from the same nation). Randy Daytona's and Karl Wolfschtagg's names would have appeared on the scoreboard, not "USA" and "GDR," respectively.

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:

Referenced in Under the Balls: The Life of a Ball Wrangler (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

Rock Of Ages

Wong As 'Hong' A Surprise In This Pong Farce

If you like ping pong, laugh at the insane characters Christopher Walken likes to play, enjoy dark comedy, don't mind a bunch of stupid-but-funny scenes and a wildly outlandish story....you should like this movie. I did, and I realize it is a dumb movie....but it's fun and it's entertaining.

In many respects, this is a typical farcical comedy of today, with the same ingredients you see in many of them - the same type of outrageous characters (everyone in here), the typical spy story and Nazi villain (will Hollywood move on, in that regard?), tons of sexual innuendos and scantily-clad babes, an ugly-and fat-male lead and total absurd humor. It's the latter that I like, and I can't recall how many times I laughed out loud at some ridiculous sight or sentence that I saw in here.

Walken, even though he doesn't play the lead guy is fascinating, as always in his typical off- the-wall role. To me, though, James Hong, an actor in his late '70s, just about stole this film as "Master Wong," the blind instructor. He was flat-out hilarious and had a lot of great lines. Of course, so did Walken and the film's star, Dan Fogler ("Randy Daytona"). and the villain Thomas Lennon as "Karl Wolfschtagg." Kudos to Lennon for also co-writing the script.

Other reviewers here who wrote "silly but entertaining" hit it right on the nose. That's what it is, and that's what you should expect. Humor-wise, it is another "Dodgeball," except now it's ping-pong, and it's funnier.

In addition, you get profound words to live by, such as "To die like a tiger is better than living like a pussy." Hmmmm.