Funny, but not gut-busting

Rating: 9/10 (23 December 2007)

Balls of Fury is a fun movie filled with the kind of stereotypes that are sure to offend the thin-skinned while amusing others who can appreciate unsophisticated comedy without sifting it through a PC filter or expecting Oscar winning performances. For what its worth the actors were well chosen and did a good job with the material they had to work with. Two actors stand out in particular: Brett Del Buono, who played the young Randy Daytona was very engaging and with little dialog and short screen time managed to use body language and facial expressions to define what turned out to be the fairly complex older Randy as played very well by Dan Fogler. As usual, Christopher Walken was marvelous, playing the mostly malicious yet charmingly capricious arch-villain Feng as only Christopher Walken can do. Having never seen George Lopez perform before, I don't know how funny he is as a comedian but I enjoyed his performance as a funny straight man in this movie. In fact, regardless of what others might say about the movie itself, all of the actors and actresses (is that PC?) were excellent in their parts. Aisha Tyler, as always, was luscious to look at as Mahogany, Feng's matter of fact ominous eye candy, and Maggie Q as Maggie Wong, the love interest, was "Sexcellent," whether she was kissing, carping or kung fu fighting. I give this movie a "9" and predict that unless it succumbs to the numbing effects of some follow-the-pack early reviewers, it will grow on audiences as more and more viewers learn to relax and enjoy it without preconceptions and knee-jerk analytics. It's just a movie. It's not uplifting, enlightening or in the best of taste. It's kind of silly, and like any good spoof it's predictable in format but not in detail, with some scenes over the top and others underplayed. All in all, its just entertainment and I enjoyed it.