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Shelf Beauties |
Balls of Fury Dan Fogler (who looks like
Meat Loaf, but not the real Meat Loaf, more like the guy who played
Meat Loaf
in the VH1 movie about … Meat Loaf) stars as Randy Daytona
– a former child
prodigy ping pong player who suffered a horrible defeat and tragedy at
a
tournament strangely resembling, but, for legal reasons, not called The
Olympics. Almost 20 years later, he is
part of a cheesy stage show at a Balls
of Fury is counting
heavily on a suggestive title to make you giggle, but doesn’t
bring enough
jokes to match comedies like Superbad or
The Simpsons Movie
– both of which are still in theaters for those who want
something
special this weekend. It’s
not a
horrible movie, but writers Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant (who also
serves as
director) seem to give us half the jokes needed to make this a fast
paced
comedy, and a few too many allusions to familiar movies to be original. They both must love Scarface
and Enter
The
Dragon (even going so far as naming one character The
Dragon, maybe that's supposed to be "subtle") because they try
to use material and storylines from each ad nauseum, but I can rent
either one
of those and be happier than buying a ticket to this.
Plus, Garant and Lennon skim the surface of
comedy angles, never going much past the obvious or routine with any
character
or storyline.
While Garant and Lennon rely
on so many kicks and blows to the crotch you might think you are
watching America’s
Funniest Home Videos or some sort of strange DVD Mommy
and Daddy keep hidden
in the bottom of a dresser drawer with a weird leather mask, they do
find some
moments to raise the bar and deliver solid laughs.
Several familiar faces show up as ping pong
competitors, including Terry Crews and Lennon himself, and ham it up
appropriately for our amusement.
Additionally, Fogler avoids making Daytona into a
complete doofus, which
is a relief. He’s
funny and goofy, but
not so dumb you wonder how he could be breathing.
Balls
of Fury feels
like a
movie Will Ferrell turned down, and you’ll see why someday,
hopefully for free,
on Comedy Central. 1
½ Waffles (Out of 4) Balls of Fury is rated PG-13 for crude and sex related humor and for language.
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