You can't get too worked up over a movie like Balls of Fury. Its aims are so modest and fitfully realized that griping about things like wobbly plots, cheaply drawn characters or really lame special effects just missed the point entirely. This is a movie that centers around ping pong matches -- filmed in super slow-mo -- played to the death and has a climax scored by Def Leppard's "Pyromania" (and the ending credits have a cast sing-along to "Pour Some Sugar on Me"). No Atonement or Charlie Wilson's War-level stuff here.

Nope, just goofy, watered-down jokes from a couple of the Reno 911! fellas (Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, respectively) and a flick that breezes by, failing to stick more than a couple genuine laughs. Dan Fogler (who somehow manages to evoke both Jack Black and Adam Sandler) stars as the hapless Randy Daytona, a die-hard ping pong player whose early humiliation as a wunderkind competitor at the hands of fey German ace Karl Wolfschtagg (Lennon, camping it up) led him to performing in Vegas, a gifted athlete in exile. It's only when FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez) approaches Randy about competing in Feng (Christopher Walken)'s mysterious ping pong death matches in order to bring down the sort of-Chinese gang lord that Randy must face his fears and hone his competitive edge.

I wish there were a bit more to the synopsis but really, that's about it. There is, of course, the obligatory love interest Maggie (Maggie Q), niece of blind ping pong master Wong (James Hong), beyond plenty of getting-socked-in-the-junk jokes and several extended cameos from actors (Robert Patrick, Diedrich Bader and Aisha Tyler) that just leave you scratching your head in disbelief. At the center of this three-ring circus, however, is Walken's genuinely unhinged portrayal of Feng; as is his custom, Walken seems to be in another movie entirely, but it's a potent dose of weirdness in a film that doesn't always completely hang together.

Balls of Fury might've been a damaged mini-masterpiece on the order of the Reno 911! movie if the filmmakers hadn't been held to a PG-13 rating -- it certainly would've spiced up this otherwise pedestrian effort. As bland multiplex comedies go, Balls of Fury is far from memorable and certainly one of the weaker laughfests to see the light of day in 2007. It's a rental, at the very best, on a weekend where you literally have nothing else to do. Otherwise, skip it.

The Video:

Shot on high-def video, this 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer betrays its source material frequently, display motion blur and the odd bit of softness. The vivid colors pop and the black levels are fine, but the distracting "video-ness" of the image often pulls you out of the goofy goings-on.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track comes alive with the tick-tock sounds of ping pong balls flying every which way -- aside from the competition sequences, there isn't much for the surrounds to do, other than fill in ambient noise and, oh yeah, bring the rawk whenever a Def Leppard track is cued up. An optional French Dolby Digital 5.1 track is included, as are optional English, Spanish and French subtitles.

Seven deleted scenes (presented in anamorphic widescreen) are here, playable separately or all together for an aggregate of six minutes, 35 seconds; an alternate ending (presented in anamorphic widescreen) is included and runs one minute, 51 seconds. "Balls Out: The Making of Balls of Fury" is a 13 minute, 57 second featurette (presented in anamorphic widescreen) that takes a slightly satiric look at the film's production, while the definitely tongue-in-cheek five minute, 17 second featurette "Under the Balls: The Life of a Ball Wrangler" (presented in anamorphic widescreen) rounds things out.

As bland multiplex comedies go, Balls of Fury is far from memorable and certainly one of the weaker laughfests to see the light of day in 2007. It's a rental, at the very best, on a weekend where you literally have nothing else to do. Otherwise, skip it.