That said, MOVIEGUIDE® warns moviegoers, including families with teenagers, that this occasionally offensive comedy is probably not worth their time or money. Even so, it is interesting to note that the movie pokes fun at wimpy male homosexuals, which is politically incorrect these days. There’s not much else, however, to tickle the funny bone here, even though the cast serves the material as best it can. This movie’s spoof of old martial arts movies, especially the ones starring Bruce Lee, is pretty funny. “What is it about sudden death you don’t understand?” Feng asks. At the contest, Randy is chagrined to hear that Feng will have the loser of each match killed. Before getting an invitation to the contest, Randy has to get training from an old Chinese teacher and his beautiful daughter. The contest is run by Feng, the man who murdered Randy’s father after the father lost money betting on his son at the Olympics. (The movie was written by Reno 911! veterans Lennon and director Ben Garant, who, having found a way to make ping-pong seem as thrilling as it can be, should work for ESPN.In the comedy BALLS OF FURY, Randy Daytona, a former ping pong prodigy, gets a chance to regain his self-respect when an FBI agent hires him to infiltrate an underground ping pong tournament. He floats through the absurdity with ease, able to battle an 8-year-old ping-pong master dubbed "the Dragon" without being over-the-top, even though the material is. He's boorish but likable, a Jack Black in the making. Walken's a delight, but it's Fogler who makes this whole enterprise somewhat worthwhile. Credit for that first goes to Christopher Walken, who commits to the insanity with such relish that you can't help but let your guard down. In fact, it may even make you laugh (a little). Still, it's so good-naturedly inane that it manages not to offend. Nor is it a Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, or any of Judd Apatow's super-silly-yet-brilliant comedies - though it clearly aspires to join those ranks. Let's be clear: BALLS OF FURY is no Blades of Glory. But the former star is woefully out of practice, so he must first apprentice with Wong (James Hong), a blind Chinese restaurant owner who speaks in nonsensical clichés, and his alluring-but-tough niece, Maggie (Maggie Q) - who both have major axes to grind with Feng, too. Randy finally gets his chance to face down Feng when Rodriguez recruits him for the FBI's mission. But instead of avenging his dad's death, Randy grows up to become a loser who does ping-pong tricks at dive bars where no one cares, or even knows, that they're in the presence of an athlete. The defeat left Randy's father, a gambler who owed money to Feng, dead by the arms dealer's hand. Enter Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler), a has-been ping-pong prodigy who once nearly medaled at the Olympics - he's "the golden boy who couldn't even bronze" - but lost to an outrageously aggressive German athlete, Karl Wolfschtagg ( Thomas Lennon). ![]() He's also a big-shot arms dealer, which may be why the feds - headed by Agent Ernie Rodriquez ( George Lopez) - are after him. In BALLS OF FURY, venerable actor Christopher Walken plays Feng, a millionaire ping-pong fanatic who gathers the world's best players in an ultimate death match - literally - just so he can watch them do what they do best.
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