Sally
Silly me… I thought I had seen every sports comedy spoof movie ever made. Basketball (Semi-Pro), football (The Replacements), hockey (Slap Shot), figure skating (Blades of Glory), cheerleading (Bring It On), golf (Caddyshack, Happy Gilmore), dodgeball (Dodgeball)… I was so sure Hollywood had run out of sports.
How could I forget about ping-pong? Clearly this was a sport begging for its story to be told. We only got a taste of table tennis drama in Forrest Gump, but Balls of Fury takes things to the next level: high stakes championships, brutal competition, do-or-die matches!
OK, seriously, this movie sucks. Sports spoofs can be fun, but they actually have to be funny. Not only is Balls of Fury not funny, but the plot is beyond ridiculous even for a movie like this. I can’t believe Christopher Walken agreed to appear in this. Oddly enough his performance feels like he’s doing an impression of himself, but maybe that’s just Walken phoning it in?
Rating: F
Ben
This is a really stupid movie about ping pong. It’s not that funny at all. The only reason I bought it was because I had a thing for Maggie Q and she was plastered all over every poster. It’s a really ordinary film, the only positive I can mention is Thomas Lennon. He plays a German Ping Pong star and he is the only person who made me laugh for the whole film.
Dan Fogler plays Randy Daytona, a former ping pong Olympian whose dad was murdered after he bet illegally on his son at the Olympics. Years later, Randy is asked by the FBI to help catch the man responsible for his dads murder (Christopher Walken). He has to infiltrate the underground ping pong scene (there is such a thing??) and needs Maggie Q to get him back in shape because he hasn’t played professionally since his dad died. The plot is thin, but it does enough to let Fogler run riot and be an idiot sufficiently.
Not sure how they talked Walken into this. He’s been much better in other things.
This film is pretty ordinary. I’ll more than likely never watch it again.
Rating: F