Balls of Fury (Includes LAND OF THE LOST Movie Money)

Film Comment - 07/01/2007
"[T]he laughs are warm and occasionally hard, thanks to a decent script by director Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon, some fairly ingenious ping-pong sight gags, and affable newcomer Dan Fogler."

Sight and Sound - 02/01/2008
"[T]here's an endearing visual brashness to the film, while Dan Fogler, the Tony-winning Broadway actor who plays Daytona delivers his gags well."

It's ping-pong played to the death in this balls-out comedy: Dan Fogler stars as pong child prodigy and Def Leppard-devotee Randy Daytona, whose defeat at the hands of a hissy East German (Thomas Lennon) during the 1988 Olympics forced him leave the world of ping-pong competition in disgrace. Randy's life is a shambles until he gets recruited by CIA agent (Barry Lopez) to infiltrate an ENTER THE DRAGON-style ping-pong tournament (to the death), run by an evil triad leader (Christopher Walken). First Randy needs to get back in shape; enter James Hong (BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA) as the blind ping-pong master Wang and Maggie Q as his sexy, kung fu-fighting niece. While FURY is a consistently funny comedy it also manages to sluly infuse some intelligence and compassion into its steady stream of genre spoofery and lowbrow crotch gags (similar in that sense to Mel Brooks' BLAZING SADDLES). Fogler has an engagingly scruffy underdog-style warmth and seems to really connect with the older pros like Walken and Hong; there's the sense everyone had a good time making this film, which carries over to the audience. Director Robert Ben Garant knows when to speed up the action and when to give his actors room to stretch out; the result is a generous spirit where all the cast is allowed to grab their share of the laughs. There's also some awesome Def Lepard tunes on the soundtrack, and Maggie Q is one smokin' hot babe.

Action | Crime | FBI Agents | Kung Fu | Revenge | Satire | Spoof | Theatrical Release