Balls of Fury

Running Time: 90 minutes MPAA rating: PG-13

King Features GRADE: C+

If you see just one ping-pong kungfu movie this year, let it be "Balls of Fury." Well, actually it's the only pingpong kung-fu movie this year. Or ever, I think.

Dan Fogler stars as Randy Daytona, who competed in the 1988 Olympics when he was just a boy. He gets his clock cleaned by a German player (Thomas Lennon), which ends Daytona's career even before he reaches puberty.

Flash-forward to the present, and Daytona is a Las Vegas novelty lounge act. He is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate an invitation-only underground ping-pong tournament held by weapons dealer Mr. Feng (Christopher Walken). In order to get in shape for the tournament, Daytona is placed in the hands of a blind table-tennis master named Blind Master Wong and his niece Maggie (Maggie Q).

The film pretty much follows the Bruce Lee classic "Enter the Dragon," with a few nods to the old "Kung Fu" TV series. With a title like "Balls of Fury," you know what kind of humor you're in for, and it ain't Oscar Wilde.

Fogler does a great job with his character. He really understands the type of comedy that writers Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant were going for, and he delivers.

The standout performance of the film goes to Maggie Q. In the few scenes where she's allowed to show off her martial-arts skills, she truly electrifies the screen and leaves you wishing the film were more about her than ping pong.

Christopher Walken is also a hoot. Yes, I said hoot. You could tell he was having the time of his life playing the ridiculous Mr. Feng. In fact, what saves "Balls of Fury" from being just another tedious doofus comedy is the feeling that everyone in the cast is just having a great time being silly. ¦

(c) 2007 King Features Synd., Inc.