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"Whacks On. Whacks
Off." |
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Directed by Ben Garant -
Written by Ben Garant,
Thomas Lennon
Starring Dan Fogler,
Christopher Walken,
Maggie Q, Diedrich Bader
Distributed by Focus
Features - 2007 - 90mins - Rated
PG-13 |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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C- |
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A tiny comedy with no balls... |
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I have a friend who loves, and I mean
LOVES, table tennis...or "ping-pAWNG" as Christopher Walken says
with about as much quirky conviction as he can muster in a film.
This friend's devotion to table tennis is admirable. He practices
constantly, plays in tournaments regularly, seeks out training from
some of the best players and coaches out there.
He's serious, I tell you.
So, believe it or not, I may be one of the very few individuals to
actually say that I was looking forward to "Balls of Fury" from the
moment I first heard about the film a few weeks ago.
I mean, c'mon, Christopher Walken in a film about ping-PAWNG with
the tagline "A huge comedy with tiny balls."
Does low-brow comedy really get much better?
Well, yeah, fortunately it does.
"Balls of Fury" is an almost uncomfortable film with its seemingly
desperate attempts to wring the comic life out of almost every
ridiculous situation thrown at the screen and in the way that
writers Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon ("Reno 911") create characters
who somehow parody themselves even while parodying martial arts
films, awe-inspiring sports flicks and a few of our beloved quirky
comedies of days past.
Now, then, don't get me wrong. There is something inherently funny
about Christopher Walken in this film AND he very nearly makes the
film worth watching on his own. Unfortunately, he is not front and
center in the film and when the film isn't centering on Walken it's
centering on predictable physical gags and an unwarranted
pretentiousness.
In "Balls of Fury," washed-out professional ping-pong player Randy
Daytona (Who knew that the professionals had such cool names?),
played with enough zest and charming self-grandiosity by Dan Fogler
to claim blood relationship to the similarly roly-poly Jack Black,
begins cooperating with an FBI agent (George Lopez) to bust
Christopher Walken "Master Feng," a deadly ping-pong tournament.
Are you excited yet?
If the basic premise doesn't get you, how about the site of Maggie Q
in short shorts as Daytona's love interest?
If neither of these things particularly excite you, then I dare say
that "Balls of Fury" is likely to fare as well as the similarly
quirky yet blink and you'll miss it comedy of "Hot Rod," the latest
of the SNL flicks to make a minor blip at the box-office and fade
quickly from theatres.
An obviously low budget film with obvious technical flubs and among
the year's worst lighting, it will be interesting to see if "Balls
of Fury" can muster up enough curiosity to make it an opening
weekend modest hit and, perhaps, at least recoup its expenses before
heading off to home video.
Garant, who also directs the film, seems to fall into the "Hot Rod,"
"Scary Movie" and other quirky film-of-the-month club in the way he
seemingly pieces together "Balls of Fury" with this odd sense of
bravado throughout the film...it's as if the filmmaker is saying
"Damn, I've made myself this summer's funniest film. If you don't
think so, then you just don't get it."
Maybe I don't get it, because I sure don't find it very funny.
I mean, what's funny about an overt obsession with tiny balls
repeatedly slamming into presumably bigger human balls?
I mean repeatedly.
Repeatedly, I tell you.
What's funny about Garant and Lennon's continued devotion to subtle
homophobia, repeated blind jokes and ethnic stereotypes?
Maybe I just don't get it, but even when they're funny the first
time they do actually fall flat by the 13th time. I'm
exaggerating...a tiny bit.
Despite my fondness for Jack Black, I'm acutely aware that Black has
pretty much the same act he does, with only minor variations, in
each film. We haven't so much seen Jack Black acting as we have seen
Jack Black in Mexico, Jack Black in school, Jack Black with a big
ape and Jack Black in a band. So, when I say that Fogler, a noted
Broadway actor recently in the revival of "25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee," can't quite work up the cinematic charm of Jack
Black, it's more than just a slam...it's a slam dunk.
From the way Fogler's character is constructed, one can't help but
wonder if the producers really wanted Jack Black but just plain
couldn't afford him.
Pity.
With Fogler's routine wearing thin quickly and Walken not really
appearing until about the mid-point of the 90 minute film, "Balls of
Fury" quickly runs out of comedic steam. It's reminiscent of many of
Lorne Michaels' attempts to wrestle 90 minutes of humor out of those
five-minute comedy sketches from Saturday Night Live.
Sometimes it works, frequently it doesn't. When it doesn't, it's
downright ugly.
Still, Walken is an odd and charming choice here and, per the usual
Walken, the performance seems the perfect Walken summer bookend to
his wonderfully delightful turn in "Hairspray," a far more
successful quirky flick.
Walken turns on his Walkenisms full force in an occasionally
painful, but also downright funny routine of self-awareness and
parody.
James Hong, in a supporting role, steals every scene he is in, while
Lopez, not exactly known as a cinematic force, is nonetheless worthy
of the film's highlight reel with his amusing "Scarface" homage.
While there have been many table tennis thrillers in the annals of
cinematic history (Okay. Okay. "Forrest Gump" is pretty close to
it), "Balls of Fury" is one of them.
In fact, I can easily say that "Balls of Fury" is the only table
tennis comedy featuring a freakily similar to Jack Black type actor
with a quirky, funny evil dude played by Christopher Walken and with
Maggie Q in really hot short shorts and, for good measure, a Mexican
thrown in for a reason I never could figure out.
Remember those really bad martial arts flicks? Those quirky 80's
comedies that thought they were so cool, but they mostly sucked?
Here's another one.
As much as you are likely to want to head for the doors shortly
after this flick ends, if not before, stay over for the cast's
unexpectedly outrageous take on Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On
Me."
The score?
Fogler, production values, Garant and Lennon's script and the
non-descript characters? D-.
Walken, Hong, Maggie Q's derriere, George Lopez and delightful music
video? C.
"Balls of Fury" sure isn't going to win ping-PAWNG or tiny balls any
new fans, but that's okay...my ever devoted table tennis lovin'
friend would likely kick their asses anyway.
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
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How We Rated This Film
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TC Candler -
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| Richard Propes
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C- |
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Jacob Hall
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TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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