User Reviews

What are people whining about? Balls of Fury was quite funny! A few years ago, the people who are now trashing this movie would have been going gaga and adding a 100 million to its gross revenue...but that's part of the problem. Tastes have changed.

I'm going to go on the record as saying that this movie is at least as funny as anything Adam Sandler or Will Ferrel has ever made. Why is it doing worse then? People just don't want silly, stupid comedies anymore, which is why Superbad is doing much better instead.

Balls of Fury is a very funny movie with a wonderful cast (especially Christopher Walken and Thomas Lennon), and if some of the jokes fall flat, or gave themselves away in the trailer, the movie moves quickly enough that it doesn't matter. They're already onto another joke.

Times have changed, and unfortunately for the movie, so have tastes. These days, even silly spoofs are expected to meet a required level of maturity, and for those that were raised on Naked Gun, Hot Shots and Police Academy movies, that's a little sad.

Go ahead, say the movie is juvenile. Say it's stupid. Just don't say it isn't funny. There were at least three moments during the movie when the entire theater was rolling in the aisles. I've never seen a SNL alumni movie do that.

There are some who may look down at this movie with disdain and dismiss it as just another lowbrow attempt to elicit cheap laughs. Well guess what? This movie does exactly that, and that's great! This is an incredibly funny movie, with goofy but likable characters, especially James Hong who plays Master Wong. James Hong gives one of the funniest performances ever. He was great. He made this movie happen. Also, Maggie Q was great. She is the next Sandra Oh. And the the goofy story line also contributes to the overall humor, and of course, one would be remiss if they did not mention the performance of Christopher Walken who once again proves that he is a great actor. His deadpan approach was absolutely perfect for this movie. If you want to watch a movie that will make you laugh, then this is the movie for you.

Amusing comedy staring Dan Folger who won a Tony for the 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee. The film concerns a Ping Pong Tournament run by madman Christopher Walken. A spoof of films like Enter the Dragon and everyone of those spy films where the FBI or CIA use a regular Joe for a secret mission this is an amusing romp I'm glad I didn't pay big bucks to see on the big screen. Don't get me wrong its a funny movie but not worth the 11 bucks it would take to see in a theater. Dan Folger clearly is a man of limited ability,He's okay here but its clear between this and Good Luck Chuck he's headed for a limited film and TV career in supporting roles. As I said he's good the role doesn't require him to do little more than mug at the camera and he's fine, but I doubt very much he'll be able to ever really do more than that. Christopher Walken on the other hand is a scream, and its clear why he took the role, he can go as far over the top as he wants and still be amusing. The rest of the cast including veteran James Hong and comedian George Lopez is up to snuff, though Maggie Q is given little to do other than look good. Absolutely worth seeing on both DVD and cable.

This has to be, quite possibly, the dumbest movie I have seen in a very, very long time.

However, that is not necessarily a bad thing. I don't think there was a single moment in this film that purposely wanted any smidgen of intelligence whatsoever.

And, heck, the reason I went to see this movie was because I thought it looked funny. And, guess what? I laughed. I don't know if this will go into the treasury of greatest stupid movies ever made, but it did leave me with a smile on my face.

I think it was because it was ping-pong. Yes, I like a good game of ping-pong as much as the next person, but come on. It's ping-pong. Just try telling that to these characters. The fact that anyone could take so slight a game so seriously cracked me up.

And that's where this movie works.

It's pointless, silly, and down-right brain cell killing. But I found myself forgiving everyone because they were so good-hearted in waltzing around with their idiotic humor.

No, it will probably not be nominated for Best Picture. But as for dumb comedy goes, this nicely held its own.

This is a Thomas Lennon written comedy, so you know it's going to be a little abstract, and very pacing based. Balls of Fury really did a great job of keeping in the same humor vein of Reno 911, etc.

Yes, there are crotch shots and other typical middle school humor, but they happened so often and with such randomness that it went from stupid to hilarious.

A lot of the humor is based in uncomfortable moments. Not a lot of people enjoy being made uncomfortable by something they are viewing for entertainment, but if you like that style of humor, Balls of Fury is right up your alley.

This isn't for everybody, so it'll either be a 10 or 1 for you. Worth the rental just to see.

It is not that bad. I am one of the guys who like this. It is not bad comparing to the movies that were recently released in Singapore. Underdog is not very good, can't even be a superhero movie. Shoot em' up is for hard-core action fans and basically is very violent and bloody. Then it is Balls of fury which I enjoyed watching. I thought it was something like Prince of tennis, the live-action movie and the ping-pong ball fights scenes are something like that. That, the ping-pong ball fights, is the thing that attracted me to watch it. But Prince of tennis is better than this. Balls of fury got the comedy and the simple action which becomes a harmless fun movie. I like movies as long as they are fun or entertaining. Balls of fury, though fun, is considered quite dumb for some mature adults or teenagers, the director used stupid jokes like always get hit in the groin and banging into the wall. It has to be stupid to be funny. Sometimes, I admit that it is quite dumb in some of the scenes but it is fun, it got slow-motion ball fights, it got Maggie Q who is hot and it got dumb-a** jokes so what more you want for a dumb comedy.

Overall, it makes a harmless movie that you can watch in your free time. It can be funny sometime and it too can be dumb sometime. You may laugh or smile at some scenes. I don't know but I smiled when watching it even at the stupidest jokes. Best to leave your brains at home while watching. This movie is not to be taken seriously.

I laughed at this movie. I laughed a LOT. True, some of the laughs were simply because some people were in this movie that had NO BUSINESS being in it, because they are considered to belong to a higher echelon of movies. Christopher Walken and Maggie Q are usually seen in LARGE blockbusters or high-profile indies; George Lopez has a very successful TV series, not to mention MANY cameos from well-known comedic actors. These people are GOOD. When they are on the screen, funny stuff happens. The script is an obvious parody on the movie "Enter The Dragon", but with ping-pong in lieu of kung-fu or karate. It also spoofs the "underdog" motif like the "Rocky" movies. I dunno, all I can say is that I REALLY enjoyed this movie. I didn't expect much, and I got a lot back because of that. True, I was a little liquored up, and a second sober viewing might not pay off repeat dividends, but I had a good time. Isn't that really what it's all about? Honestly, it ain't Citizen Kane, but I've seen crappier movies... a contemporary comparison: I was NOT disappointed by this movie, and comparatively much more disappointed with the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie...

Yaaarrrr, thar be worse things under the sun, matey...

In a time when we are mostly given the sequel to a rip-off of a sequel to a blockbuster, I'm grateful for any movie that is slightly original, and I haven't seen any other movies yet about a Ping-Pong tournament to the death - have you? Even if some elements were familiar like the secret agents and Asian villains and although a couple of jokes fell flat, "Balls of Fury" has enough fresh ideas to offer to work well as a comedy. It helped that the hero was played by an unknown actor instead one of the usual comedy stars because he plays a nobody - somebody who once almost became a hero at the Olympics but lost. He doesn't deserve a second chance but gets one, anyway - encouraged by his coach with words of wisdom like "believe in yourself when nobody else does... like now"! Maggie Q as his training partner is hot, and Chris Walken as Feng adds the eccentric element which fits the colorful scenery. I liked it.

If you like ping pong, laugh at the insane characters Christopher Walken likes to play, enjoy dark comedy, don't mind a bunch of stupid-but-funny scenes and a wildly outlandish story....you should like this movie. I did, and I realize it is a dumb movie....but it's fun and it's entertaining.

In many respects, this is a typical farcical comedy of today, with the same ingredients you see in many of them - the same type of outrageous characters (everyone in here), the typical spy story and Nazi villain (will Hollywood move on, in that regard?), tons of sexual innuendos and scantily-clad babes, an ugly-and fat-male lead and total absurd humor. It's the latter that I like, and I can't recall how many times I laughed out loud at some ridiculous sight or sentence that I saw in here.

Walken, even though he doesn't play the lead guy is fascinating, as always in his typical off- the-wall role. To me, though, James Hong, an actor in his late '70s, just about stole this film as "Master Wong," the blind instructor. He was flat-out hilarious and had a lot of great lines. Of course, so did Walken and the film's star, Dan Fogler ("Randy Daytona"). and the villain Thomas Lennon as "Karl Wolfschtagg." Kudos to Lennon for also co-writing the script.

Other reviewers here who wrote "silly but entertaining" hit it right on the nose. That's what it is, and that's what you should expect. Humor-wise, it is another "Dodgeball," except now it's ping-pong, and it's funnier.

In addition, you get profound words to live by, such as "To die like a tiger is better than living like a pussy." Hmmmm.

I went into the theater expecting almost nothing good coming out of it. I read the reviews- Washington Post, USA Today, Rotten Tomatoes, etc. I knew they were horrible and quite honestly, I thought I would hate the movie. But my friend wanted to go, and me having no life whatsoever, I agreed to join her.

I have to say, I should go into to more movies with such low expectations, because I really enjoyed it. Was the acting superior? No. Was the script well-written? No. But it was funny and Christopher Walken makes all things glorious, so all in all, it wasn't a bad way to spend a Thursday night after an especially terrible day of work. The actors all seemed to realize that they weren't participating in a project that would make movie history and they all seemed OK with that. It was very much a movie done to simply enjoy the play on the word "balls" and in this particular case, it was forgivable.

Overall, don't go in expecting complete comedic genius and you just might find yourself laughing.

For the most part, "Balls of Fury" is an excuse to be silly. It could just as easily star Adam Sandler. Clearly the point of the movie is just to have a good time, and the cast is certainly doing that every step of the way. It's not rip-snorting humor by any stretch, but definitely a good way to enjoy oneself for two hours if there's nothing else to do. As can be expected, Christopher Walken is the best character in the flick. His role reminded me of Han in "Enter the Dragon" (or any James Bond villain, for that matter).

So, if you just want to laugh at something completely ridiculous for a while, this is the movie for you. Like "A Night at the Roxbury" and "Dude, Where's My Car?", it proves that movies can be funny and stupid at the same time.

This movie is by no means garbage as some have posted, nor is it a great movie. Think before you buy the ticket. If you walk in expecting a spoof about ping pong w/ a cast of completely 1 dimensional characters to be a 10/10 you must live a life full of disappointment. This movie is funny, and if you didn't find yourself laughing at it you are probably already dead or on the fast track to ulcers and a stress induced stroke by age 30. This is not the first movie that approached a ridiculous subject in such silly manner. Odds are if you hate movies that have done that in the past (ie: Dude, Where's My Car, Blades of Glory, Hot Rod, etc.) you are gonna hate this one as well. As it stands right now this movie has a 4.6 and that probably a little low due to people 1 staring it because they wanted the Saving Private Ryan of ping pong movies. This movie should probably get a rating in the 6.1-6.3 category. If you have a little time to kill, have already seen Super Bad, and want a good laugh go check it out. Otherwise wait till it comes out on DVD or just ignore it. As for those who have blasted it. Go blast a movie that actually supposed to be good and isn't as opposed to picking on the 90 lb. asthmatic kid of movies. This movie can't defend itself for being stupid because is supposed to be. If you couldn't tell that from the trailer, then odds are you haven't made it this far into my comment.

Taxi. The Pacifier. Herbie Fully Loaded. Let's Go to Prison. Night at the Museum. If this list of movies is an accurate representation of your DVD collection, then my friends, you either have a young child in the house or a strange fetish for average-to-below average comedies. Or "absolutely dreadful" in the case of Jimmy Fallon's Taxi. *shudders* I'm still trying to erase memories of that steamer from my mind.

Other than being part of the aforementioned pathetically sad DVD collection, do you know what else each of these movies has in common? They're all written by Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, the duo who wrote, produced, and directed Balls of Fury. Are you trying to decide whether or not this is a film worthy of your time and money? Please let my above revelation stand as "enough said."

In all honesty, what can you expect when you take a poor man's Jack Black and give him the starring role in a poor man's Dodgeball? A little thing I like to refer to as "not much." Dan Fogler gives it the ol' college try, but perhaps the material is to blame for his mostly forgettable performance. He delivers a couple of laugh-out-loud moments, but by the time he's lip-synching to Def Leppard you'll be asking yourself, "So who's this guy, and why is he doing a bad karaoke impersonation of 'Jack Black Meets Sam Kinison'?"

I will give Balls of Fury three credits - 1) Maggie Q is adorable, 2) The film rightfully never takes itself too seriously, and 3) It's nowhere near as filthy as I expected. At the top of my notebook I wrote, "Balls/Genitalia References" and I was set to keep track. I just knew they were going to fly off the screen fast and furious, especially judging by the "a huge comedy with tiny balls" tagline. So I was quite shocked when the grand total was only one, and that one was merely Maggie Q's character disgustedly relaying an example of the comments she was forced to deal with from male players.

What more can I say about a film whose crowning achievement is, "Well, I didn't expect much, and it wasn't the worst movie I've ever seen, so whatever"? That certainly doesn't send you rushing to purchase a ticket, now does it? It'll be on TNT or TBS soon enough so just have patience and watch a few legitimately good comedies in the interim. There'll come a time when you're flipping channels, nothing else is on, and you'll cruise across this. You can decide then whether you want to sit through all of it. The end result will likely be a long email thanking me for saving you $8.

Before I commence, let me once again bring attention to my above "poor man's Dodgeball" quote. I overheard several disappointed people say, "I thought it'd be like Dodgeball." What's that? Yeah, they said it in unison, Wisenheimer. Now shut up. The consensus? It's not even close. So if that was the opinion you formed after watching the trailer then dismiss that notion immediately. It's an interesting concept that probably contains about ten minutes of solid comedic material.

What ultimately happens when you stretch that over an hour and a half? Unfortunately, the jokes suffer from what I like to call the "Kate Moss, Heather Mills McCartney, and post-2000 Muhammad Ali Syndrome." In other words, they're flat, lame, and they pack no punch. Let's see them put THAT on the DVD cover.

Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) used to be a ping pong prodigy. Nineteen years earlier, he lost a big match and his father was killed by the triads for losing his bet. Today, he's a dining theater act. FBI Agent Rodriguez (George Lopez) recruits him to track down arch-criminal Feng (Christopher Walken) who is hosting an underground ping pong tournament. After initial rust, Rodriguez directs him to Wong (James Hong) and his niece Maggie (Maggie Q) for training. He is given the golden paddle as an invite to the secret tournament in Central America.

This is extremely stupid. It's a little funny. It's not mean-spirited. Dan Fogler is a nice lead but not necessarily a top one. The comedy doesn't always hit. This is better than most but not really that great.

Balls of Fury wasn't the total disaster, but when that's the highest praise I can offer, well, that's a problem. Think of it as a lesser version of Dodgeball.

Ping-pong just isn't that funny, or exciting, or anything really - just like the film. The idea of underground ping-pong never really goes anywhere. The jokes are okay at times, but there are no big laughs and certainly no surprises.

Unless you are a 10-14 year-old boy, who given the film's humor and scantily clad actresses is obviously the target market, you will probably be disappointed by paying money for it. Wait a couple of years and watch it free some night on Comedy Central and spend your ten bucks somewhere else.

I got a chance to see Balls of Fury in a premiere. It is hilarious! Let's start with the main actors: Of all of the main characters, I found Master Wong(James Hong) and Mr. Feng(Christopher Walken) really convincing. The others, such as Dan Fogler(Randy Detona), Maggie Q(Maggie Wong) and George Lopez(Ernie Rodriguez) were also convincing. The story seems like crap when you first read the synopsis, but believe me, it's actually Ping-Pong that makes us laugh for a whole hour and a half. If you saw it, and you liked it and you're actually reading this review, then you must know what I'm talking about. I highly recommend this film.

Why? Because it is unique. It's the kind of film that you might want to see over and over again, and, despite it's stupidity, will still like it

This definitely comes under the heading of "Stoopid Comedies," which I happen to really enjoy. But the jokes are more wit than belly laughs. There isn't much outright slapstick--- which I would have liked. The funny parts are quiet, although not particularly subtle. The humour is more from the mild delight of seeing some old-time character actors like James Hong and Christopher Walken play out some long and slow bits over the course of the movie. Some of the humour also comes from a bit of satire--- although not of the outright "spoof" category. Mostly, it's just a series of improbable and goofy scenarios--- silly, whimsical, and with enough colour and dash to be enjoyable. If you want laugh out loud comedy--- you'll be disappointed, although I, and the audience, chuckled out loud. If you want a pleasant enough folly, then you'll probably be satisfied.

Created by the same people behind the TV series 'Reno 911', "Balls of Fury" is really no ball of fire, but it passes the time amiably enough. Alright, so it IS pretty stupid. But it's not exactly aiming high in the first place. Some jokes do get dragged out too long, and there are awkward moments. Still, as it clocks in at just over an hour and a half, it doesn't go on any longer than it should. At its best, it does generate some modest chuckles here and there.

The cast is really more engaging than their material. Dan Fogler stars as Randy Daytona, a star ping-pong player at age 12 who gives up the game for 19 years before being persuaded to pick it up again by Federal agent Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez). The Fed needs Randy to infiltrate a tournament presided over by arch-criminal Feng (Christopher Walken, at his most Christopher Walken-esque). It turns out that the bad guy is an avid ping-pong fanatic.

Working as a spoof of both action movies and sports movies, "Balls of Fury" is agreeably silly at times. Its characters are reasonably endearing and entertaining, and it's hard to knock a story (written by co-star Thomas Lennon, who plays the swaggering Kraut Karl Wolfschtagg, and director Robert Ben Garant) with an affection for the music of Def Leppard.

Lots of familiar faces here: Maggie Q as the luscious (and badass) love interest, Terry Crews, Robert Patrick (don't be fooled by his prominent billing; he's barely in the thing), Diedrich Bader, Aisha Tyler, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jason Scott Lee, David Koechner, Patton Oswalt, David Proval, Masi Oka. But it's the legendary character actor James Hong who steals the show, in a gem of a comedic performance as the blind, Mr. Miyagi-like mentor. Walken, unsurprisingly, is a hoot as the villain.

Of course "Balls of Fury" is no modern classic, but sometimes a "good" no-brainer comedy is just what some people look for to pass the time. It's certainly not as terrible as it's been made out to be.

Six out of 10.

This film is one of those films that I did not expect to enjoy. It has the recipe of a bad movie: a last week of summer release, a poor box office total, and some harsh reviews. Well, I decided to give this movie a chance. I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie starts off by showing a kid who is the world's champion of ping pong. He finally loses a match and his father is murdered. Nearly twenty years later, FBI Agent Rodriguez recruits him to rediscover ping pong to defeat his father's killers. But first, he must get some tutoring.

The acting is great. I liked Dan Fogler and Christopher Walken the best. George Lopez added some comedy. Maggie Q added sexiness and spice into the movie.

Overall, this is a decent comedy that I liked. This is not as funny as American Pie, but it's funny enough. I rate this movie 9/10.

So I went to see this yesterday - had a good feeling about it from the previews, with the clever title, all the furious ping-pong playing and of course Chris Walken in that hilarious get-up, figured it'd be worth a shot. Balls of Fury is a lot of fun, with a great central performance from Dan Fogler, who grows on ya with every scene. Walken and the rest of the excellent supporting cast contribute as well, with Maggie Q. being the stand-out she always is, although everyone is good here. The energy never lags, the jokes and the situations are funny without being seriously mean-spirited - it's just fun, plain and simple. You don't have to be a ping pong wizard to appreciate this film, you simply have to come with an open mind and a new cricket for the master.

Balls of Fury seemed like a clever idea; take all the clichés from martial arts b-movies and apply them to ping-pong. Unfortunately, this flick doesn't deliver on its promising premise. First from seeing the trailer, I didn't know what to expect but it looked alright. This film wasn't be taken serious but just silly and comedic. There are some jokes there but some also childish acts. Most of the jokes are toilet jokes, jokes involving the blind man. It was surprising to see Christopher Waken in this. Though he was pretty god as the villain. He's a natural; his timing is terrific and he makes nearly everything he says worth a giggle or two in "Balls." Without him, there wouldn't be much to write about this movie at all. It could have been much better but it was pretty okay imo

Seriously it was. My brother and I watched it, and the theater contained 6 people! The film was about a failed ping-pong champion gets summoned by an FBI agent (George Lopez), and with some training by Master Wong (James Hong who voiced Mandrin in SUPER ROBOT MONKEY TEAM HYPERFORCE GO!), to compete in a ping-pong competition lead by Christopher Walken as the evil Master Feng. This film is hilarious with a capital H! It makes fun of all those kung-fu films. We all need a good laugh, and what is the best way to end it with an original comedy. This film not only screams hilarity, but pure originality. In a world where Hollywood gives us nothing but drivel (i.e. with all the sequels, remakes, and film-adaptations of TV shows and cartoons), this movie sticks out as an original. A must watch. Rated PG-13 for comical violence, language, and sexual reference.

The story follows Daytona a failed ping pong prodigy, called in by the FBI too... well the plot is a bit silly. It's honestly just to move along the gags, which come thick and fast- this is a very funny and stupid film of which this era of the 2000s was common but it's much funnier than most of its kind.

I really enjoyed it and recommend if you want to watch a stupid funny movie, christopher walken even makes a typically weird appearance and the mentor is the standout for dumb laughs.

For a slacker comedy, one of the indexes I think I will use is how many times the hero is kicked in the groin. In Balls of Fury, ex-ping-pong Olympian Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler) is kicked in the titular region at least three times, making this a pratfall-prone, intellectually-challenged comedy with enough low-level laughs to satisfy base cultural instincts. He is hired by the FBI to smoke out a world-class villain Feng (Christopher Walken) with an affinity for table tennis.

The echoes of Karate Kid and Enter the Dragon are fleeting, looking like great dramas next to this uneven revenge/kung fu comedy.

The laughs, especially those that have Randy bouncing his ball off an opponent's face (you have to see it in its context to enjoy), are enough for even my guest laugher, Patricia, to continue her mirth marathon with her son. But the jokes are usually base, elevated by the presence of Christopher Walken, who has perfected self parody to an extent that laughs abound before he says his first line. His fey Fang is amusing given his usually virile roles, but he makes credible the claim that he "dresses out of Elton John's garage sale." Maggie Q as Maggie is slender and charming, lending a martial arts aura to the proceedings, satirizing the genre with charm.

Def Leppard does its best to keep the action at least musically interesting, its "Pour Some Sugar on Me" rendition by the cast a high point, albeit in the closing credits. The revenge-themed dramas of this summer will not suffer by comparison. The superior summer slacker spectacles, Knocked Up and Superbad, are not in danger of competition from this lightweight fin de summer competitor.

Balls of Fury is just a slight amusement lacking the power suggested by its title.

In the table tennis finals of 1988... in the Olympics. Twelve year old Randy Daytona (Brett DelBuono) is a expert Ping-Pong player. But on that day, his life changed when his coach/father (Robert Patrick)... he bet all of his money to the Chinese Gangster. But Randy never thought... he would be beaten by a German Democratic Republic by the name of Karl Wolfschtagg (Thomas Lennon). Randy never seen his father on that day, since his father was killed by the gangsters. Nearly two decades has passed, now Randy (Dan Folger) does his table tennis routine as a show for the Casino. Now an ambitious FBI Agent (George Lopez) asked Randy help to play in the underground ping-pong championship, especially when Randy could finally meet the man... who killed his father. Which this criminal mastermind is by the name of Feng (Oscar-Winner:Christopher Walken). But since Randy wasn't played for nearly 20 years. The FBI Agent sends Randy to be trained by a thoughtful but clumsy Chinese blind-man (James Hong) and his attractive niece (Maggie Q). Once Randy is ready to play the underground championship of Ping-Pong... Randy never realized Feng's underground rules are played to the death!

Directed by Robert Ben Garant (Reno 911:Miami!) made an entertaining silly comedy is made watchable thanks to the strong Comedic cast. Hong has all the best moments in the film, Folger is likable throughout the film and Lopez has some funny Al Pacino impressions as well. The premise is incredibly silly to be sure but it is one of those movies that everyone seems to be having a good time.

DVD has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and an good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. DVD has two featurettes, deleted scenes and alternative ending. The director co-wrote the script along cast member:Lennon. "Balls of Fury" isn't the funniest comedy out there but it's all in good fun, despite some occasional moments of being mean-spirited. It is certainly funnier than "Reno 911:Miami!". (*** ½/*****).