The James Logan Courier

Reviewed by Charles Yi, Courier Staff Writer

Those who entered the theater in anticipation of Balls of Fury would leave an hour and a half later highly disappointed. It is puzzling to see how such a promising movie with a brilliant cast and an original plot could go so horribly wrong.

The accomplished cast includes Dan Fogler, Christopher Walken, George Lopez, Maggie Q, James Hong, and Terry Crews.

The story unfolds with has-been ping-pong phenom Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler), who is recruited to play the sport he abandoned, after a two-decade hiatus, by the FBI in an illegal, underground tournament held by the elusive and mysterious Feng.

However, despite the potential Balls of Fury showed in previews, it failed to live up to the billing. One might even say that Balls of Fury wasn't a comedy, considering how there were only a few muffled laughs from a two-hundred person crowd for a ninety-minute duration. Indeed, the script was poorly written, showing no signs of the witty and slapstick humor manifested in the successful comedies that preceded it, which include Dodgeball and Superbad.

Sadly, the only truly enjoyable part of the film was Maggie Q sweating in her sports bra and spandex, playing ping-pong and dominating the ripped members of the Chinese triad. Unfortunately, this scene only lasted a few minutes, which was no where near enough to salvage a trainwreck of a movie.