Grade: D+
Synopsis: At the urging of the FBI, a washed-up childhood ping-pong prodigy (Dan Fogler) enters a crimelord’s (Christopher Walken) elite, life-or-death ping-pong tournament.
Balls of Fury is a silly movie. That’s not a problem though, as the creative team of Ben Garant/Thomas Lennon, of “Reno 911!” fame, has proven their competence in this genre. What is a problem is that Balls of Fury tries too hard.
The script tries to eschew the obvious gags in favor of more creative bits, but it misses more than it hits simply because it tries to make a gag out of everything. Granted, it does have a few knock out bits (Walken), but not enough.
The other problem is the lead. While Garant and Lennon have shown great talent for handling ensembles, this picture has to be carried by Fogler, who’s not quite up to the task. The supporting cast, especially Walken, gets all the laughs, leaving Fogler to carry the film as the somewhat straight man. Whereas a Will Ferrell or maybe a Luke Wilson would have shined in this part, Fogler struggles.
Bottom Line: With a tighter script and a better lead, this might have been really good, but as it is, the laughs are too few and too weak. Maybe it’ll grow on me over time.
