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‘Balls of Fury’ delivers furious fun
BY AMBER VESEL
STATESMAN STAFF WRITER
“It is better to die like a tiger than to live like a pussy,” said James Hong, the wise old Chinese mentor in “Balls of Fury.” Its lines and goofy spoofs like this that make “Balls of Fury” as comical as it is.
Written by Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant, who also worked together on “Reno 911,” “Night at the Museum” and “The Pacifier,” the two have teamed up once again to make a hilarious comedy. “Balls of Fury,” is comparable to such parodies as “Talladega Nights” and “Wedding Crashers.”
The movie’s most notable actor is Christopher Walken who has starred in such films as “Click” and “The Stepford Wives.” The movie’s other actors include George Lopez and Dan Fogler who acted as Zack in “School for Scoundrels.”
The general storyline of “Balls of Fury” involves a multi-national table-tennis tournament intertwined with an element of action as a Chinese guns-dealer (Walken) is set up for an FBI sting.
Personally, I felt that the movie had the potential to be a lot funnier than it actually was. However, other movie-goers felt that “Balls of Fury” was downright gut-busting. Paul Adie, a University of Wisconsin-Superior transfer student from Nigeria gave the movie a nine out of ten in terms of funniness.
“I thought Christopher Walken’s character was stupid . . . but I also play table-tennis so it was fun for me to watch,” said Adie.
Another viewer, Kim Velzke, of Lake Superior College, gave the movie a seven out of ten rating for funniness.
The type of humor used in the movie is fairly varied, although it is all the type of stupid-funny that most people enjoy lately. A lot of the comedy comes from ridiculous moves such as walking into walls and a blind man falling down an open elevator shaft. However, other lines, such as “Ping Pong, or as the Chinese say Ping-Pong,” lend to the one-liner type of comedy so seen in “Super Bad.”
Overall, the movie definitely had its funny moments, but failed to amuse audiences as much as it possibly could have. Had the one-liners or other spoofs in the movie been increased, viewers would have been falling out of their seats.
