Ping-pong Playa is very funny at times and very uncomfortable at other times. The lead Chinese-American character Christopher Wang (pronounced Wong) or C-dub is hilarious when he does his gangsta routine. He is also very "Ghetto", quite racist and all too authentic.
The plot itself is very Karate kid lite, done on a low after-school movie budget but is pleasant enough.
But most Asian, or other minorities for that matter can relate to C-dub and both laugh and cringe. The way Caucasians are depicted is over the top but does reflect some of the frustration at the old-school-tie attitudes that are still running things - even when they are trying to be benevolent. Sadly, we have all experienced those unintentional incredibly ignorant remarks from people like the tournament director. If you are from Hong Kong or one of the former British colonies then you'd know what C-dub was sayin'...
This might have been less cringe-worthy if it had gotten out of the American immigrant self-imposed apartheid ghetto mentality. But then again maybe that works better as (un)intentional irony.
Overall, not great but it did precede things like Outsourced which deal with similar themes. C-dub's rapping is very funny (as is the Cantonese hip-hop - so bad that I'm glad they didn't translate it...) and it does give insight into Asian-American attitudes and prejudices.
The plot itself is very Karate kid lite, done on a low after-school movie budget but is pleasant enough.
But most Asian, or other minorities for that matter can relate to C-dub and both laugh and cringe. The way Caucasians are depicted is over the top but does reflect some of the frustration at the old-school-tie attitudes that are still running things - even when they are trying to be benevolent. Sadly, we have all experienced those unintentional incredibly ignorant remarks from people like the tournament director. If you are from Hong Kong or one of the former British colonies then you'd know what C-dub was sayin'...
This might have been less cringe-worthy if it had gotten out of the American immigrant self-imposed apartheid ghetto mentality. But then again maybe that works better as (un)intentional irony.
Overall, not great but it did precede things like Outsourced which deal with similar themes. C-dub's rapping is very funny (as is the Cantonese hip-hop - so bad that I'm glad they didn't translate it...) and it does give insight into Asian-American attitudes and prejudices.