Balls of Fury
Encyclopedia
Balls of Fury is a 2007 American
sports comedy film starring Dan Fogler
and Christopher Walken
. It was directed by Ben Garant
and was released on August 29, 2007.
table tennis
finals, twelve-year-old Randy Daytona is the American contender. His anxiety increases when his father says that he bet on him, despite his original promise not to. His opponent is Karl Wolfschtagg from the German Democratic Republic
. During the intense first play, Daytona runs back too far and hits his head on the table. This loss, combined with the fact his father, who bet on his son to win, was killed by Triad agents of the criminal Feng, and his words 'I'm going to Disneyland' mumbled during his confusion from the head hit causes Daytona to leave competitive ping pong in disgrace.
Nineteen years later, Daytona is working at the Peppermill Casino
in Reno, Nevada
, doing table tennis routines. After being evicted from the casino, Daytona meets FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez, who requests his assistance in taking down Feng. After Daytona agrees, Rodriguez informs him that he needs to win some championships in order to be noticed by Feng's scouts. After losing at a local tournament, Daytona is brought to a Chinatown
noodle shop to be apprenticed under a blind
man named Wong, who was Feng's former mentor, and who recognizes Daytona's talent. Daytona also meets Wong's niece, Maggie. When Chinatown locals vandalize Master Wong's house for violating their edict against teaching white people ping pong, Daytona is forced to play against "The Dragon", a young girl, in exchange for Wong's right to remain in Chinatown (and, by extension, Orange County). After Daytona beats the Dragon, Feng's men take notice of his win and bring Daytona, Rodriguez and Wong to Feng's facility.
Daytona handily beats his first opponent Freddy "Fingers" Wilson, though he is unnerved to learn that the tournament is literally sudden death—the loser is executed with a poisoned dart delivered by Feng's majordomo, Mahogany. After Daytona attempts unsuccessfully to escape, Feng invites him to join his side, and reveals that he only finished half of Wong's training. He says it would be the ultimate satisfaction to win Daytona away from Wong. Feng also shows Daytona his specially modified ping-pong table. It is wired to special vests that give increasingly powerful (and ultimately fatal) electrical shocks for failure. Daytona informs Rodriguez of a hidden cache of illegal gun
s that are sufficient to put Feng in prison. While Rodriguez investigates the hidden facilities, Daytona defeats numerous opponents for his very life.
Upon learning that Wolfschtagg is his last opponent, Daytona tells Rodriguez that he wants to get out as the FBI has not yet responded to Rodriguez's homing beacon. They then come up with a plan to injure Randy severely enough, so that he has to quit. However Randy changes his mind, and he goes to tell so. When Rodriguez hides out in a bathroom, Daytona visits him in the bathroom to let him know of his desire to play against Wolfschtagg. However, he surprises Rodriquez, who breaks Daytona's arm, unaware of Daytona's change of heart. Feng discovers Rodriguez's attempts to contact the FBI and forces Daytona to face Wolfschtagg, with a broken arm. Feng decides to have the abducted Maggie Wong take Wolfschtagg's place, killing Wolfschtagg when he protests. Daytona plays one-handed and tries to stall for time. Maggie tries to lose on purpose in order to sacrifice herself to save Daytona. However, Daytona uses his ping-pong expertise to hit Maggie with the ball, and she unsuccessfully tries to dodge Daytona's hits. While this goes on, they both decide to try and escape together. Feng, upset by this, orders them both slain. Mahogany shoots a poisonous dart at Daytona, but Maggie successfully defends him with the ping-pong paddle. Daytona then throws the paddle with the dart stuck in it at Mahogany, killing her. The FBI swarms the place, during which the heroes attempt to escape, but after Daytona tries unsuccessfully to lead Feng's sex slaves to safety, everyone is captured. Feng decides to play Daytona in order to determine which of Wong's students is the superior ping pong player.
During the game, the facility's self-destruct sequence is activated, and Feng reveals that he forgot to add an off switch to the destruct mechanism. He also states that he changed the rules so that the ball can now be bounced off any surface once and still be in play. The self-destruct sequence countdown progresses, the game moves through several buildings and finally onto a bridge over a nearby river. After Wong informs Daytona that Feng has a weak backhand, Feng is electrified and falls into the water highly increasing the shock electrocuting him to death. Daytona and his friends, along with Feng's slaves, all escape in Wong's boat. Two months later, all of the major characters are reunited for the reopening of Master Wong's rebuilt Mushu shop.
based on 27 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes
, 23% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 125 reviews (29 "fresh", 96 "rotten"). The film opened well with a U.S. take (opening weekend) of $14,312,850. Final gross (November 4, 2007) ended up being $32,844,290.
and Nintendo DS
by Black Lantern. The storyline involves an underground ping-pong competition, based on the film. They were released on September 9, 2007 (DS) and September 25, 2007 (Wii). Both received very poor critical reviews.
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
sports comedy film starring Dan Fogler
Dan Fogler
Daniel Kevin "Dan" Fogler is an American actor, playwright, and filmmaker.-Personal life:Fogler was born in Brooklyn, New York, the second child of Shari, an English teacher, and Richard Fogler, a surgeon. Fogler is Jewish...
and Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
. It was directed by Ben Garant
Ben Garant
Robert Ben Garant is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer.Garant was born in Cookeville, Tennessee, and grew up in Farragut, Tennessee...
and was released on August 29, 2007.
Plot
At the 1988 Olympic1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
finals, twelve-year-old Randy Daytona is the American contender. His anxiety increases when his father says that he bet on him, despite his original promise not to. His opponent is Karl Wolfschtagg from the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
. During the intense first play, Daytona runs back too far and hits his head on the table. This loss, combined with the fact his father, who bet on his son to win, was killed by Triad agents of the criminal Feng, and his words 'I'm going to Disneyland' mumbled during his confusion from the head hit causes Daytona to leave competitive ping pong in disgrace.
Nineteen years later, Daytona is working at the Peppermill Casino
Peppermill Hotel Casino
The Peppermill Resort-Spa-Casino is a resort located in Reno, Nevada currently owned by Peppermill Resorts Inc It first opened in 1971, and includes a Tuscan themed pool deck, 1,600 hotel rooms, 600 suites, as well as convention facilities. The resort also contains a casino draped in neon...
in Reno, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...
, doing table tennis routines. After being evicted from the casino, Daytona meets FBI agent Ernie Rodriguez, who requests his assistance in taking down Feng. After Daytona agrees, Rodriguez informs him that he needs to win some championships in order to be noticed by Feng's scouts. After losing at a local tournament, Daytona is brought to a Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
noodle shop to be apprenticed under a blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
man named Wong, who was Feng's former mentor, and who recognizes Daytona's talent. Daytona also meets Wong's niece, Maggie. When Chinatown locals vandalize Master Wong's house for violating their edict against teaching white people ping pong, Daytona is forced to play against "The Dragon", a young girl, in exchange for Wong's right to remain in Chinatown (and, by extension, Orange County). After Daytona beats the Dragon, Feng's men take notice of his win and bring Daytona, Rodriguez and Wong to Feng's facility.
Daytona handily beats his first opponent Freddy "Fingers" Wilson, though he is unnerved to learn that the tournament is literally sudden death—the loser is executed with a poisoned dart delivered by Feng's majordomo, Mahogany. After Daytona attempts unsuccessfully to escape, Feng invites him to join his side, and reveals that he only finished half of Wong's training. He says it would be the ultimate satisfaction to win Daytona away from Wong. Feng also shows Daytona his specially modified ping-pong table. It is wired to special vests that give increasingly powerful (and ultimately fatal) electrical shocks for failure. Daytona informs Rodriguez of a hidden cache of illegal gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
s that are sufficient to put Feng in prison. While Rodriguez investigates the hidden facilities, Daytona defeats numerous opponents for his very life.
Upon learning that Wolfschtagg is his last opponent, Daytona tells Rodriguez that he wants to get out as the FBI has not yet responded to Rodriguez's homing beacon. They then come up with a plan to injure Randy severely enough, so that he has to quit. However Randy changes his mind, and he goes to tell so. When Rodriguez hides out in a bathroom, Daytona visits him in the bathroom to let him know of his desire to play against Wolfschtagg. However, he surprises Rodriquez, who breaks Daytona's arm, unaware of Daytona's change of heart. Feng discovers Rodriguez's attempts to contact the FBI and forces Daytona to face Wolfschtagg, with a broken arm. Feng decides to have the abducted Maggie Wong take Wolfschtagg's place, killing Wolfschtagg when he protests. Daytona plays one-handed and tries to stall for time. Maggie tries to lose on purpose in order to sacrifice herself to save Daytona. However, Daytona uses his ping-pong expertise to hit Maggie with the ball, and she unsuccessfully tries to dodge Daytona's hits. While this goes on, they both decide to try and escape together. Feng, upset by this, orders them both slain. Mahogany shoots a poisonous dart at Daytona, but Maggie successfully defends him with the ping-pong paddle. Daytona then throws the paddle with the dart stuck in it at Mahogany, killing her. The FBI swarms the place, during which the heroes attempt to escape, but after Daytona tries unsuccessfully to lead Feng's sex slaves to safety, everyone is captured. Feng decides to play Daytona in order to determine which of Wong's students is the superior ping pong player.
During the game, the facility's self-destruct sequence is activated, and Feng reveals that he forgot to add an off switch to the destruct mechanism. He also states that he changed the rules so that the ball can now be bounced off any surface once and still be in play. The self-destruct sequence countdown progresses, the game moves through several buildings and finally onto a bridge over a nearby river. After Wong informs Daytona that Feng has a weak backhand, Feng is electrified and falls into the water highly increasing the shock electrocuting him to death. Daytona and his friends, along with Feng's slaves, all escape in Wong's boat. Two months later, all of the major characters are reunited for the reopening of Master Wong's rebuilt Mushu shop.
Cast
- Dan FoglerDan FoglerDaniel Kevin "Dan" Fogler is an American actor, playwright, and filmmaker.-Personal life:Fogler was born in Brooklyn, New York, the second child of Shari, an English teacher, and Richard Fogler, a surgeon. Fogler is Jewish...
as Randy Daytona - James HongJames HongJames Hong is an American actor and former president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists . A prolific acting veteran, Hong's career spans over 50 years and includes more than 350 roles in film, television, and video games.-Early life:Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His...
as Master Wong - Christopher WalkenChristopher WalkenChristopher Walken is an American stage and screen actor. He has appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows, including Joe Dirt, Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, The Prophecy trilogy, The Dogs of War, Sleepy Hollow, Brainstorm, The Dead Zone, A View to a Kill, At Close Range, King of New...
as Feng - George LopezGeorge LopezGeorge Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
as Agent Ernie Rodriguez - Maggie QMaggie QMargaret Denise Quigley , professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American-born actress and former fashion model. She currently stars as the titular character on the action-thriller TV series Nikita.-Early life:...
as Maggie Wong - Thomas Lennon as Karl Wolfschtagg
- Jason Scott Lee as Eddie
- Aisha TylerAisha TylerAisha N. Tyler is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and author, known for her regular role as Andrea Marino in the first season of Ghost Whisperer and voicing Lana Kane in Archer, as well as her recurring roles in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Talk Soup, and on Friends as Charlie...
as Mahogany - Cathy ShimCathy ShimCathy Shim is a Korean-American actress and film producer. She has appeared in a variety of television shows, most notably Reno 911!, MADtv and Drake & Josh. She can currently be seen in 3Way, a lesbian web series.-Television:-Filmography:-Other work:-External links:*...
as The Atache - Diedrich BaderDiedrich BaderKarl Diedrich Bader , better known as Diedrich Bader, is an American actor, voice artist and comedian. Many know him for his roles as Oswald Lee Harvey on The Drew Carey Show, Lawrence from the film Office Space, the Tae Kwon Do instructor Rex from Napoleon Dynamite, Tank "Shredder" Evans in Surf's...
as Gary the Courtesan - Cary-Hiroyuki TagawaCary-Hiroyuki Tagawais a Japanese-American actor.In addition to his extensive film work, he has appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation - "Encounter at Farpoint" , Thunder in Paradise , Nash Bridges , Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding , and Heroes . He also provided the voice of Sin Tzu for the video game...
as Mysterious Asian Man - Terry CrewsTerry CrewsTerrence Alan "Terry" Crews is an American actor, comedian, voice artist and a former player in the National Football League....
as Freddy "Fingers" Wilson - Kerri Kenney-SilverKerri Kenney-SilverKerri Kenney-Silver is an American actress, comedian, singer and writer best known as a cast member on MTV's The State and for her role as Deputy Trudy Wiegel on the Comedy Central series, Reno 911!.-Early life:...
as Bethany - Patton OswaltPatton OswaltPatton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Spencer Olchin in the popular sitcom The King of Queens, voicing Remy from the film Ratatouille and Thrasher from the Cartoon Network original series Robotomy.-Early life:Oswalt was born...
as The Hammer - David KoechnerDavid KoechnerDavid Michael Koechner is an American comedian, musician, and character actor. Koechner began studying improvisational comedy in Chicago at the ImprovOlympic, under the teachings of Del Close, before joining the Second City Northwest...
as Rick the Birdmaster - Brandon MolaleBrandon MolaleBrandon Molale is an American actor.He is often cast in very physical or masculine roles. His most prominent role to date was as fictional New York Jets quarterback Kevin Ward in Mr. Deeds and as Blazer in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story...
as Courtesan of Pleasure #2 - Brett DelBuono as Young Randy Daytona
- Jim LampleyJim LampleyJames "Jim" Lampley is an American sportscaster, news anchor, movie producer, and restaurant owner. Lampley has anchored a record 14 Olympic Games U.S. television broadcasts, most recently the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China....
as Himself - Robert PatrickRobert PatrickRobert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
as Sgt. Pete Daytona - Masi OkaMasi OkaMasayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese-American actor and digital effects artist.He has performed in numerous feature films and TV series, most prominently as Hiro Nakamura in the NBC TV series Heroes from 2006 until its cancellation in May 2010. He resides in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:Oka...
as Jeff (Bathroom Attendant) - Justin Lopez as Wedge McDonald
- La Na Shi as "The Dragon"
- Marisa TayuiMarisa TayuiMarisa Tayui is a Japanese American actress. She appeared in the 2007 film Balls of Fury. She has also made appearances on The Andy Dick Show, Monk, Two and a Half Men, Heroes, MTV Movie Awards 2004, House, and The Bold and the Beautiful...
as "Geisha" - Nancy DavisNancy DavisNancy Davis may refer to:*Nancy Reagan used the stage name Nancy Davis when she was an actress*Jan Davis, full name Nancy Jan Davis, U.S. astronaut*Nancy Davis Griffeth, U.S. professor of mathematics and computer science...
as Herself (archive footage) (uncredited)
Reception and box office
As of May 19, 2008, the film had a score of 38 out of 100 on MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
based on 27 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, 23% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 125 reviews (29 "fresh", 96 "rotten"). The film opened well with a U.S. take (opening weekend) of $14,312,850. Final gross (November 4, 2007) ended up being $32,844,290.
Video game
Two video games based on Balls of Fury were released for WiiWii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
and Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
by Black Lantern. The storyline involves an underground ping-pong competition, based on the film. They were released on September 9, 2007 (DS) and September 25, 2007 (Wii). Both received very poor critical reviews.