Balls of Fury

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 28, 2007

For all intents and purposes the folks at Rogue Pictures have been very good to me this year. They have been good to all of us, seeing as they were just the right sort of folks to bring Hot Fuzz across the pond to America where it subsequently blew our collective mind. Needless to say that when I first saw the trailer for Balls of Fury and learned that Christopher Walken would be starring in a kung fu homage to ping pong, I was more than excited, I was illuminated with joy. But then again, I do love me some Walken.

Adding to my excitement for Balls of Fury was the involvement of the creative minds behind “Reno 911″, Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. Having been disappointed with their big screen adaptation Reno 911!: Miami earlier in the year, I was eager to give them another chance. Besides, this time they were in bed with great comedic talent such as George Lopez, James Hong, Dan Fogler (who is coming on strong as this generation’s Curtis Armstrong) and of course, Walken. You can never go wrong with Walken. I can’t say that enough.

Even the story didn’t sound bad. It tells the story of child prodigy ping pong star Randy Daytona (Fogler), whose fall from grace in the ‘88 Olympics causes his gambling daddy (Robert Patrick) to be murdered by a vicious crimeboss, Mr. Feng (Walken). He is enlisted by an FBI Agent (Lopez) to help catch said crimeboss 14 years later by getting into a secret underground tournament run by Feng. In order to do so, he must re-learn the ways of the great ping pong players from a Chinese master (Hong) and his smoking hot niece (Maggie Q).

Sadly though, all of that excitement would turn out to be nothing more than a swift kung fu kick to the groin, mostly at the hands of a mangled, almost incoherent plot with as many errant backhands as a long night with a drunk, abusive uncle. While there are some wonderfully brilliant homages to old school kung fu flicks, the writing team of Garant and Lennon spend too much time focused on the haphazard journey and not enough time working the payoff. The absurd comedy works, but the moments in between just don’t add up. Even cameos from the likes of Diedrich Bader and David Koechner seem under-realized and drab.

Had it not been for some very over-the-top characters delivered brilliantly by this cast, this film would have never been able to get going. Dan Fogler is capable, but despite being the lead in the film he is constantly upstaged by both James Hong, whose every on-screen moment is genius, and Christopher Walken, who is always money. Thomas Lennon also shows up and almost saves the day as Fogler’s eccentric German accented ping pong rival. He even goes as far as to rock serious spandex throughout the film.

But despite the nearly heroic comedic presence of Thomas Lennon and the existence of Christopher Walken as the Prada loving, long braid wearing supervillain, Balls of Fury falls painfully short of the comedic standard that has already been set in 2007. From Hot Fuzz to Blades of Glory to Superbad, it has been a wonderful year for absurd, mindless comedy. And for those of us who were looking for it to continue in theaters this weekend, at least we still have DVD.

The Upside: Christopher Walken in a crazy getup and a braid.

The Downside: The fact that you have to sit through the rest of the film to get to Walken.

On the Side: In an interview with our own Brian Gibson, Dan Fogler told the story of his first meeting with Christopher Walken on the set. Walken’s first comment, dressed in his full costume for the film was, “Dan, I hope you know, that this is not my real hair.” That Walken guy is the fuckin’ man!

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