Critic Reviews
Balls of Fury (2007) Rank 2 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (116) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
eFilmCritic.com (Mel Valentin)
The King's Room (Paul Perkins)
efilmcritic.com (Peter Sobczynski)
Peterborough This Week (Mike Sage)
the insanely corny plot should appeal heavily, especially to audiences who grew up on awful late 80s, early 90s action movies starring Jean-Claude Van Damme ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Peterborough This Week (Mike Sage)
Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Balls of Fury may struggle to find a widespread audience, as it is, as its core, merely a farce on old Bruce Lee flicks (the title itself takes off of Lee's Fists of Fury)inserting ping pong in place of kung fu action. In fact, the entire plot is little m ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Qwipster's Movie Reviews (Vince Leo)
Monsters and Critics (Ron Wilkinson)
Try as he might, Director Garant cannot bring a winning performance out of this summertime silliness. Ping pong remains in disfavor as of the dog days of August. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Monsters and Critics (Ron Wilkinson)
PopMatters (Bill Gibron)
Right, you guessed it. It is Enter the Dragon with dorks. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at PopMatters (Bill Gibron)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Daniel M. Kimmel)
..a second rate comedy that too often goes for the cheap laugh, and then fails to get it. [However]if you're very undemanding, you just might have a good time. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Daniel M. Kimmel)
Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
...there are plenty of funny bits, but the movie runs out of ideas long before its end ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Seattle Times (Moira MacDonald)
TV Guide's Movie Guide (Ken Fox)
Insistently ludicrous. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at TV Guide's Movie Guide (Ken Fox)
MovieFreak.com (Sara M. Fetters)
Pretty sad, if you ask me, but seeing as how a good portion of the audience found plenty to laugh about maybe my normal critical pings aren't anything to pong home to mother about this time around. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at MovieFreak.com (Sara M. Fetters)
Sean the Movie Guy (Sean McBride)
It’s high camp and silly, but not nearly funny enough to drive the audience to frequent bouts of laughter. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Sean the Movie Guy (Sean McBride)
Movie Eye (Frank Ochieng)
Look, it could have been worst if the premise involved yak racing so we need to thank our lucky stars...[this] paddle-swinging piece of piffle leaves much to be desired. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Movie Eye (Frank Ochieng)
Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
While it's sporadically amusing, Balls of Fury scores fewer points for humor than it could have. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Miami Herald (Connie Ogle)
Metromix.com (Matt Pais)
Taking no risks at all while avoiding anything too offensive, Balls of Fury has neither balls nor fury. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Metromix.com (Matt Pais)
Newark Star-Ledger (Lisa Rose)
Something of a surprise, Balls of Fury serves up sports thrills and a good amount of laughter... ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Newark Star-Ledger (Lisa Rose)
Newsday (Gene Seymour)
Christopher Walken has joined the legion of stand-up comics, student actors and bar-stool mimics trolling for laughs by doing bad Christopher Walken impressions. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Newsday (Gene Seymour)
Deseret News, Salt Lake City (Jeff Vice)
It's clear that Balls of Fury is trying to be dumb-funny... But Balls of Fury -- is much dumber than it is funny. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Deseret News, Salt Lake City (Jeff Vice)
Flipside Movie Emporium (Rob Vaux)
Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Ping-Pong* is to tennis as foosball is to soccer. I know it’s on cable now, with lots of controversy over slower balls and faster paddles, but it retains for me only memories of rainy days at summer camp. I have never lost all affection for the sport, how ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Chicago Sun-Times (Roger Ebert)
Mr. Brown's Movies (Michael Dequina)
Without a particularly funny nor compelling lead, the hits in the already scattershot script are weakened, to say nothing of the misses. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Mr. Brown's Movies (Michael Dequina)
Variety
Relentlessly silly in spoofing martial-arts movie conventions, "Balls of Fury" has roughly enough laughs for a first-class trailer but wheezes, gasps and finally goes flat through much of its 90 minutes. "Reno 911!" collaborators Robert Ben Garant (who ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Variety
Philadelphia Inquirer (Steven Rea)
Mark Reviews Movies (Mark Dujsik)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Michael Machosky)
Preview Family Movie Review
Window to the Movies (Jeffrey Chen)
Outtakes With Fiore (Fiore Mastracci)
It tries to do for ping pong what 'Dodgeball' did for that gym game. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Outtakes With Fiore (Fiore Mastracci)
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
Both 'Balls' and 'Rush Hour 3' include scenes in which the lead characters walk gingerly because of an unfortunate, um, butt circumstance; yet such lowbrow antics are much easier to take in the movie that DIDN'T cost $140 million. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) (John Beifuss)
ReelTalk Movie Reviews (Jeffrey Chen)
Has its moments, but a little too often the comedy runs into this problem of starting with the punchline and then chewing it until it runs out of flavor. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at ReelTalk Movie Reviews (Jeffrey Chen)
ReelzChannel (Thomas Leupp)
commonsensemedia.org (S. Jhoanna Robledo)
Slapstick ping-pong comedy has very slight bounce. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at commonsensemedia.org (S. Jhoanna Robledo)
IGN Movies (Stax)
It's a shame that a movie with so many genuinely funny and talented people involved wasn't better. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at IGN Movies (Stax)
MovieWeb (Matt Sheehan)
New York Times (A.O. Scott)
Balls of Fury is raunchier and somewhat more imaginative than Hot Rod , and it will be must viewing for Christopher Walken completists. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at New York Times (A.O. Scott)
efilmcritic.com (Dan Lybarger)
TheMovieChicks.com (Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone)
Ancient Chinese saying: tiny ball with no laugh, make bad movie. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at TheMovieChicks.com (Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone)
Pop Syndicate (Stefan Halley)
Let's just go ahead and put a moratorium on wacky sports movies, shall we? ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Pop Syndicate (Stefan Halley)
ReelzChannel (Thomas Leupp)
HollywoodChicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Ben Garant fumbles the formula he's mocking, denying us the spectacular and hilarious matches that the story demands. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Orlando Sentinel (Roger Moore)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Mack Bates)
You can't help imagining that it was dreamed up one weekend afternoon by some die-hard tennis fanatic bummed that the local country club wouldn't allow members to play in the rain.
"Balls ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Mack Bates)
Bangor Daily News (Maine) (Christopher Smith)
In spite of what's its title suggests, "Balls of Fury" isn't a sex comedy. The balls of fury here are ping-pong balls, and they disappoint. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Bangor Daily News (Maine) (Christopher Smith)
Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
Beating Will Ferrell to the idea before he could churn it out as another one of his sports comedies, "Balls of Fury" follows a former child prodigy in the world of table tennis (Dan Fogler) as he tries to recapture his former glory in an underground ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Sun Publications (Chicago, IL) (Josh Larsen)
filmcritic.com (Chris Cabin)
The humor of a game like ping-pong is the outright laziness and inaction that goes into it. It's a sport designed for drunken high-school parties, frat-house basements, and stoners who need to do something while Jerry and Marley jam out (the same could ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at filmcritic.com (Chris Cabin)
iF Magazine (Abbie Bernstein)
Yes, it's racist and homophobic, but those are actually secondary concerns. Mainly, it's just not funny. There's no reason to pick on Balls of Fury unduly, but unless you are a diehard fan of any of the parties involved, there's no reason to see it ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at iF Magazine (Abbie Bernstein)
Slant Magazine
congratulations are in order for Christopher Walken, who—as Balls of Fury's evil crime lord, ping-pong whiz, and fan of Ming the Merciless-style Chinese garb—finally delivers a performance that's a parody of a parody of himself. ...read the complete Balls of Fury movie review at Slant Magazine
User Reviews
by David A. Smith "T... on October 30, 2008
This movie is so stupid it's funny. these types of movies are awesome. i love slap happy stupid humor films. this movie will make you laugh untile you cry. it a pretty good film. ...
by Newton Ooi on February 15, 2008
One of the great things about comedies is that one can make a comedy movie about just any subject. Take ping-pong. Can you imagine a horror movie or romance movie based on ping-pong? Not me either. But a comedy, sure. And while we are at it, lets ...
by Joseph J. Frederi... on November 12, 2007
When the trailer for movie first came out, I thought it looked amazing. Ping-pong and 80s hair metal? And Christopher Walken? I made sure to call off work so I could see it the day it came out, and rest assured I was not disappointed. I even told my ...
by Riccardo Audano on February 18, 2009
"Ping pong is not Macarena, it takes time and patience to learn". If you can appreciate the comic genius of this sentence, pronounced by your typical old and blind martial arts asian master you 're gonna like this ridiculously funny movie. If you can ...
by Craig Connell on January 19, 2009
f you like ping pong, laugh at the insane characters Christopher Walken likes to play, enjoy dark comedy, don't mind a bunch of stupid-but-funny scenes and a wildly outlandish story....you should like this movie. I did, and - yes, I realize it is a dumb ...
by Michael Gmirkin on August 19, 2008
While it's certainly not high cinema, it did have its share of gut-busting laughs... I liked a lot of the casting.
I'll grant you, a lot of the humor was sophomoric, or crude, or offered deadpan (which was funny in its own right in a few instances), and ...
by A. Fear on July 07, 2008
Reading the reviews I can understand why this movie can be funny. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I could imagine someone not liking it if their funny bone wasnt working that day.
I would say if you liked these movies - Dumb and Dumber, Reno ...
by K. Lor on March 11, 2008
Having not seen this movie before, I randomly bought it just because I wanted to see it, and it was a combo HD DVD and Standard DVD. When I watched it with my boyfriend, wow! It was totally not what we had expected. The movie was funny. We were getting a ...
by Chrissy K. McVay ... on February 28, 2008
This movie got some good laughs out of me, so it's worth watching for the endorphin boost. The comedy resembles many other sports spoofs and I love the quirky humor and stunts, but you have to like this type of comic formula to get into it. It isn't the ...
by Kerry O. Burns on February 04, 2008
when you need a good laugh and don't need a movie that requires any thinking, this is the gem for you. It was late, the kids were asleep, me and the little lady wanted to watch a movie and we finally settled on BALLS OF FURY. It was good funny, you know ...
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