Randy Daytona, a former table tennis child prodigy who burnt out after a disastrous 1988 Olypmic Table Tennis final, finds himself suddenly recalled to the game of emperors nineteen years later, this time in the aid of FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez who seeks his help in taking down the Triad kingpin Feng, the very same man that murdered Randy’s father when he was still a boy.
Needless to say, the passing years have been less than kind to Randy and it is now up to him to shed the pounds and regain his paddle mastery if he is to stand any chance against the formidable tyrant he must now face.
But lucky for him not all is lost yet… even though it does sometimes seem that his new ‘master’ the blind Mr. Wong is permanently going in the wrong direction!
I found myself watching flipping through channels the other night and I came across Balls of Fury… and actually ended up watching it right to the end. Agreed, it isn’t exactly the most highbrow of entertainment and does rely heavily on good old American slapstick, but in its defence it does everything it tries pretty damn well – from the ping pong to the slapstick falls, the special effects are simply put, quite brilliantly (and seamlessly) done.
Director Ben Garant manages to tell his story that needs to be told while eliciting some superb performances from his crew of rather talented comedic actors and while I didn’t like how he handled the rather tragic Reno 911! Miami from behind the camera, I think he certainly outdid himself on this one.
What is quite surprising is the varied cast of comedic actors that have been pulled together on this project, starting with Dan Fogler and going right the way through to the as-per-usual deadpan Christopher Walken himself. George Lopez, James Hong, Maggie Q, the list of fairly well know actors appearing throughout the length of the film is pretty extensive – though I might be just a little biased in liking this film thanks to the appearance of the one and only Terry Crews, perhaps my most favourite onscreen comedic talent of all time! :)
I’ll admit, it is silly, it is stupid and you probably won’t be laughing all the time. But it is well put together, features some great music on its soundtrack, will ellicit some extremely good laughs and is thus perfect for wasting away some free hours you might be sitting with.
Besides, it features ping pong doesn’t it? And that in itself is simply awesome after all.
Related link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balls_of_fury