Balls of Fury: DVD, HD DVD Review (2007)

Curiously, this isn’t a sex comedy.

Instead, it’s a movie about underground table tennis tournaments, which apparently are revered in the Asian community (somebody might want to clue them in on this), who take to the sport in ways that often are deadly for the participant--and, in this case, deadly dull for the audience.

This fractured, mostly unfunny movie fails to meet even the lowest expectations. Dan Fogler is Randy Daytona, a hirsute, plus-sized rocker whose claim to fame is that he has the ability to turn ping-pong balls into balls of fury at the tennis table.

After falling off the circuit years ago when he was defeated at the Seoul Olympics by a mincing German, he now is ushered back into the fold by FBI agent Rodriguez (George Lopez), who needs Daytona to get back into form so they can defeat the evil Feng (Christopher Walken).

Echoes of "Karate Kid" ensue, with Daytona being guided by the blind ping-pong master, Wong (James Hong), as well as by Maggie (Maggie Q), a beautiful woman who initially loathes him until, bizarrely, she suddenly decides to love him.

It's just one false move in a movie filled with them, though Walker, it must be said, does look funny in his blowout wig and his kitschy kimonos.

Rated PG-13. Grade: D+

Read the full review here.