Balls of Fury
(2007) dir. Robert Ben Garant
viewed: 12/23/07
Though I thought some of the images from this movie looked funny in the trailers: Christopher Walken in uber-campy Chinese robes and pompadour, the Siamese twins two-handed ping-ponging,…okay, maybe it was mainly Christopher Walken, but anyways…I also thought it looked like a typically awful comedy with lots of obvious crotch jokes and whatnot. My step-sister really liked it, and somehow it seemed maybe like it would be more funny than not.
It’s the holidays, I’ve got four days off from work. I’m hitting the video store more heavily than I normally do.
But the funny thing is that this movie is actually pretty funny. It’s inconsistently funny, but more so than not. And while it has its share of mild crudeness, it’s far more mild than crude. I had the unusual experience of being five to ten minutes into the movie and actually thinking, “Man, this is funnier and better than I expected!” Normally, a striking thought in movies, when such a thought does arise, is that the movie is very bad and to realize it so early on, is a damning thing. I didn’t even know how to handle the opposite feeling.
Star Dan Fogler shows good timing and charm in a role that you could easily have seen Jack Black in (though thankfully not). Christopher Walken is always amazingly funny. And George Lopez was less obnoxious than I expected, too.
Written and directed by some guys from the Reno 911! gang (a show that I never watch but have heard can have its moments), Balls of Fury is probably the second funniest movie that I’ve seen this year. It certainly doesn’t achieve greatness, which I am actually willing to pin on Superbad (2007), but it’s a pretty fun flick.
It’s a broad sports comedy about ping pong. What else would one need to know? Oh, it’s got the gorgeous Maggie Q in it too, whose knockout qualities struck me in this year’s Live Free or Die Hard.
