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Balls of Fury
Rogue Pictures


4.5

based on 26 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 39 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Reno 911!: Miami

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sex-related humor, and for language

Starring Christopher Walken, Dan Fogler, Thomas Lennon, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, Maggie Q, George Lopez, and James Hong

Down-and-out former professional Ping-Pong phenom Randy Daytona is sucked into this maelstrom when FBI Agent Rodriguez recruits him for a secret mission. Randy is determined to bounce back and recapture his former glory, and to smoke out his father's killer - one of the FBI's Most Wanted, arch-fiend Feng. (Rogue Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Action \| Comedy \| Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Thomas Lennon Ben Garant
DIRECTED BY:	Ben Garant
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: December 18, 2007 Theatrical: August 29, 2007
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Andy Spletzer

The reason Balls of Fury works as well as it does, aside from its low aspirations, is because of the charm of Fogler in the lead. Like Jack Black, but not as sarcastic, he brings a winning enthusiasm to the role.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Kamal AL-Solaylee

Stupendously silly but viciously funny.

Boston Globe Mark Feeney

The movie flaunts its ridiculousness and offers a relentless string of jokes about blindness, groin-bashing, and bodily odors.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The first movie combining Ping-Pong and kung-fu and co-starring Maggie Q. How many could there be?

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

If it's not quite the best Will Ferrell movie he never made, Balls of Fury is, at the very least, a lot funnier than it has a right to be.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Even at just 90 minutes, Balls of Fury - with its caricatures of the Asian underworld, with its G-man malarkey and gay jokes (Feng keeps an all-boy bevy of sex slaves) - begins to outstay its welcome.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

The good news is that Christopher Walken, resplendent in purple silk, isn't the film's sole redeeming element. The bad news is that even his arch-villain can't save Balls of Fury from losing bounce as the story proceeds.

Portland Oregonian Lisa Rose

The shtick grows a bit repetitive, so by the end of the story you may be checking the time rather than rooting for Randy.

Premiere Marilyn Smith

Ultimately even the strongest characters deliver mixed results.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

This is pretty thin soup, but the players are spirited and the jokes generally offbeat.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The few jokes it does land can't make this more than a look-what's-on-late-night-cable event.

Variety Brian Lowry

Relentlessly silly in spoofing martial-arts movie conventions, Balls of Fury has roughly enough laughs for a first-class trailer but wheezes, gasps and finally goes flat through much of its 90 minutes.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

A lifeless pingpong comedy that ricochets from one flat gag to the next.

TV Guide Ken Fox

In the grand tradition of "Beerfest" and "Bladels of Glory," this insistently ludicrous -- and not entirely unfunny -- two-joke comedy satirizes an old Hollywood standby: the big-comeback sports movie.

Baltimore Sun Gene Seymour

As disposable as aluminum cans without the promise of a cash return.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

The real trouble is that it's supposed to be an outrageous comedy, but in fact it's fairly tame and not all that funny.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Add Balls Of Fury to the list of movies that not even Walken's moon-man delivery and oddball comic energy can save.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The nicest thing is the Asian American actress known as Maggie Q.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Intended as nothing more than a here-today, gone-tomorrow zany entertainment, and at the very least, it has a good-natured, slightly raunchy spirit about it. But ultimately, it's a hollow enterprise, all ping and no pong. It doesn't bounce; it splats.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Balls of Fury makes "Dodgeball" look like high art. It'll be tough to crack a smile, let alone laugh, during this uninspired and sophomoric satire of sports movies.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Raunchier and somewhat more imaginative than “Hot Rod.”

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

A mildly entertaining reworking of the Farrelly Brothers' superior micro-sport parody "Kingpin."

LA Weekly Nathan Lee

1. Balls of Fury is a movie about: a. A former table-tennis prodigy enlisted by the FBI to infiltrate the underground pingpong tournament of a legendary Chinese criminal. b. Suppository jokes.c. Little worth discussing and even less worth seeing.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Mostly unfunny, extremely silly pingpong comedy.

Film Threat Mark Bell

Steer clear of Balls of Fury for as long as you draw breath. Period.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

A joke of a title in search of a movie with a single good joke.

The average user rating for this movie is 4.5 (out of 10) based on 39 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Andy E. gave it a3:
My mom and I decided to try to watch this movie, and the keyword here is tried. We didn't even get halfway through because the jokes simply failed and I barely even chuckled through the part we did see. Most of the lines I even thought of were said so it was extremely predictable. Quite easily one of the worst movies I've ever tried to see.

imed l. gave it a10:
I love ping pong, when i watch this movie, i laugh from the start to the end.. the jokes is very chaos to me, you know, everything is exaggerated, but thats the point, this is a fun movie type that you dont have to bother the quality of the film. just watch and enjoy the movie, you'll get a lots of laugh, dont expect anything, JUST ENJOY! definately my favorite.

King T. gave it a0:
I hate to say it but this movie was just plain crap. Did you all see the trailer because that was all the funny parts and they were not that funny. The worst part is you can tell when a joke is made and see it is intended to be funny but you just wont laugh. Plus Christopher Walken seems sotned or just borred through out the movie. And Dan frougles part was obviously ment for jack black and i can see why he didnt want it. i never really HATE movies but i do this one. Offical grade F.

Alisa H. gave it a3:
This movie was very predictable, I've seen so many movies like this I don't know why I bother. The reason why I saw this was because, well, it was for a club movie night. I paid no money for this and was glad I didn't, but it was somewhat in the loosest sense of the word, entertaining. It wasn't great, it wasn't good, and it's just one of those movies, one of those movies that gets spewed out month after month with really nothing new. As for myself, I await a movie that will stir me. One of those movies is "The Dark Knight".

Johnny2cents gave it a0:
Wow, That anyone would even give this movie anything more than a zero is proof of why the state of this entertainment medium is in the shape its in. This movie could have been directed by a 2 year old for all I know. I rented this for my 14 year old daughter and she walked away after 10 minutes. She usually will watch just about anything. Christ, she even sat through another gem (Not) "I now pronounce you Chuck & Larry". Now believe me that is proof of how pathetically bad this movie is. What was Christopher Walken thinking?? My guess is he wasn't.

Paul M. gave it a1:
Except for a brief laugh at about the ten minute mark, I watched Balls of Fury in stunned silence, shocked at just how remarkably unfunny it was. At least twice my mouth was agape in utter disbelief at how a particular scene or snippet of dialogue made it to the screen without someone, somewhere, at some point of the process having the sense, and sense of humor, to revise or get rid of it. I mean there are talented and funny actors in the movie. Were they all just picking up paychecks? Possibly the worst movie of the young millenium, and a real textbook example of how NOT to do comedy. The one star is for the one laugh, but I think it deserves more like a half or a quarter star.

[Anonymous] gave it a0:
Pure sh*t if you watch the preview you can see all of the best jokes in the movie. it is very predictable. not worth the money. i actually wanted my money back after that.

Balls of Fury Rogue Pictures

Balls of Fury
Rogue Pictures