0110 balls of fury

I recently watched Balls of Fury (2007), which was released on DVD just one week before Christmas. It was entertaining and silly ... which was good because you didn’t need to think much to watch it. If you liked the short “A Fistful Of Yen”, which was a featurette inside of “Kentucky Fried Movie”. then you’ll really enjoy this one!

Dan Fogler (second pic, center) plays Randy Daytona, a former ping pong child prodigy, who lost his father, his self-confidence, and his title in disgrace during a match with German star, Karl (played by Thomas Lennon; fifth pic – it took me most of the movie to recognize him from the “Reno 911” series). At first, Fogler looks like Jack Black, but the resemblance fades away quickly.

Daytona is now an adult, making ends meet by showcasing his ping pong talents in small-time Reno dinner shows. He is recruited by FBI agent Rodriguez (played by George Lopez; second pic, right) to infiltrate a central American stronghold, which is commanded by arms dealer Feng (Christopher Walken; fourth pic), who is also a ping pong aficionado and hosts a tournament featuring the best ping pong players from around the world.

To get Daytona in shape, Rodriguez enlists the aid of ping pong master Wong (James Hong; second pic, left) and his scantily-clad niece (Maggie Q aka Margaret Quigley; fourth pic). I still think of her in the red dress in “Mission: Impossible III”.

The movie is best described as “Enter The Dragon”, but substituting ping pong for martial arts. Add in Jason Scott Lee and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as typical Asian bad guys, and Aisha Tyler (remember her from hosting “Fifth Wheel”?) as a blowgun-toting sidekick, and you’ve got a great little comedy to watch. Listen as Fogler pronounces “Feng” as “fang” throughout the movie. And pay attention to the scenes involving Daytona’s match with “The Dragon”, the Chinese riddle, and the concubines.

I gave the DVD as a Christmas present to Jim Y (sixth pic), who recently had surgery on his shoulder due to an injury sustained during a table tennis match. Now before you think of me as insensitive and mean, please realize that Jim used to compete in table tennis on the national level, so he would be the one person to appreciate the humor involved in the movie. And when we spoke recently, he indicated that he found the movie quite funny (and fortunately, his last match wasn’t sudden death). So there.

A YEAR AGO TODAY: My fever broke in the morning and I slept for most of the day. Occupational therapy came in the afternoon to teach me how to get dressed with one hand. Physical therapy had me standing with support. No visitors other than family.