Newspaper Page Text
GEORGIA POTTERY SALE & EXHIBITION
1 PERSPECTIVES 2007
50 GEORGIA POTTERS & COLLECTORS
SEPT 1-19
ATHENS AREA STUDIO TOURS
SUNDAY. SEPT 9 -1-5pm
Maps available at OCAF or at www.ocaf.com
Hosted by Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation
34 School St • Watkinsville, GA • 706.769.4565 • www.ocaf.com
Looking for a
Place to Live?
Fall 2007
dorai%/
8##
k > Su" Deck
foi* 5 * r
Ceiling fins
Whis‘!?:bu r '/ / Whistlebury Walk & Waterford Place
(706) 543-0320 • (706) 353-2977
NOT BLUE ENOUGH
BALLS OF FURY (PG-13) I know I've mentioned
my love for MTV's "The State," a sketch comedy
program from the early 1990s featuring the
players who eventually hosted "Viva Variety,"
patrolled the streets of "Reno 9111," as well as
gave us "Stella" and Wet Hot American Summer,
the all-time greatest parody of '80s summer camp
movies. (See Lost Picture Show for why this is
true.) Barry and Levon's deeply disturbing, eco
nomically satisfying love of pudding, Louie's dip
ping of his balls in everything, and Doug's con
stantly getting "outta heeeere" were high-points
of my high-school TV-watching years. ("Saturday
Night Live" was in a funk, its cast consisting of
a bunch of comedians—Myers, Hartman, Sandler,
Farley, Rock, Spade, Nealon and Schneider-
waiting for their big-screen break. Most didn't
make it.)
The antics of Thomas Lennon, Michael Ian
Black, David Showalter, Ben Garant, Kerry Kenney
(now Kenney-Silver), Ken Marino, David Wain and
the rest cracked me and my buddies up. Since
"The State" disbanded, I've been steadily follow
ing the most prominent castmembers, a few of
whom have found steady support work on weekly
television (Black on "Ed" and Marino on the now-
deceased "Veronica Mars"). Others have soldiered
on together (Lennon, Garant, Kenney-Silver and
Black on "Viva Variety;" Lennon, Garant and
Kenney-Silver on "Reno: 911!;" Black, Showalter
and Wain on "Stella"). Yet no one has found as
much commercial success amidst massive creative
failure as the writing duo of Lennon and Garant,
credited with Taxi, The Pacifier, Herbie Fully
Loaded, Let's Go to Prison, Night at the Museum,
Reno 911!: The Movie, and now Balls of Fury.
The majority of Lennon and Garant's features
are as bereft of comedy as individual episodes of
"The State" and "Reno 911!" are loaded with it.
(Note: the duo has also been outdone by former
showmates Showalter and Wain, who are respon
sible for the devilishly clever Wet Hot American
Summer.) In print, Lennon and Garant have stat
ed Herbie Fully Loaded in no way resembles the
script they originally turned in; they also rely on
the old "we're only following orders" defense to
explain away Taxi and The Pacifier. What excuse
then for Reno 911!: The Movie and Balls of Fury,
the two films on which they served as executive
producers—both directed by Garant—presumaoly
giving them the ability to keep their comedic vi
sion intact?
Fortunately, for the R-rated Reno 911!: The
Movie, they need few. Though hit or miss, the
flick was surprisingly funny, and a step beyond
its television forebear. Unfortunately, Balls of
Fury is a lowest-common-comedy-denominator
flick made mildly amusing by some seriously
funny performances.
Former ping pong champion and Def Leppard
megafan Randy Montana (Dan Fogler, a Tony
Award winner for Best Featured Actor in The
25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), who
lost not only a shot at the gold at the 1988
Seoul Olympics, but his father (Robert Patrick),
too, gets a shot at redemption when FBI Agent
Ernie Rodriguez (George Lopez) asks him to
bring down Triad crime boss Feng (Christopher
Walken), the man responsible for the death
of Randy's dad. Randy must quickly train with
the renowned (and blind) Master Wong (James
Hong, a veteran character actor and director of
softcore pornography starring Shannon Tweed)
and his hottie niece, Maggie (Maggie Q, Mission:
Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard), if he
is to be ready for the sudden-death tournament
to be held at Feng's South American compound.
A fusion of Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon and
Mortal Kombat—not to mention Chinese and
Japanese culture (its ethnic cinematic mish
mash reminds me of the far superior Big Trouble
in Little China)—Balls of Fury rides the good-
natured wave of lead Fogler, a more comedic
Paul Giamatti, and star Walken, whose uniquely
cadenced, phlegmatically raspy, not-so-subtly
Caucasian Triad boss (an homage to the many
white faces of Charlie Chan, Fu Manchu and Ming
the Merciless) elicits a knowing giggle. (For
more Walken fun, check out the Oscar winner's
cooking video on YouTube.) Several of Randy's
competitors—strapping German champion Karl
Wolfschtagg (Lennon), Freddy Fingers (Terry
Crews, Julius of "Everybody Hates Chris"),
the Charles Nelson Reilly-ish Hammer (Patton
Oswalt)—contribute sniggers to the shenanigans.
Too bad Lennon and Garant go so lowbrow and
clumsy. Fart jokes, desultory gay humor (Diedrich
Bader leads Feng's crew of male courtesans),
Scarface references, and the completely passe
bullet-time (what once rendered The Matrix so fu
turistic is now so 10 years ago) drag down what
ever humorous momentum Balls builds up.
Sadly, what Balls of Fury really lacks is balls.
The seductive tug of PG-13 humor (and box of
fice) neuters a funny premise. In the hands of
Broken Lizard, those purveyors of Super Troopers
and Beerfest, Balls of Fury might have had more
zip. It surely would have had more drug- and
sex-related humor. Having pushed the envelope
in Reno 911!: The Movie. Lennon and Garant
again revert to the inert mainstream humorists
who birthed Vin Diesel and the Peter Panda dance
(even Pacifier director Adam Shankman moved on
to Hairspray). Had Balls of Fury aimed lower... er,
higher... and achieved an R rating, it might have
been as funny as it was meant to be.
Drew Wheeler
18 FLAGP0LE.C0M • SEPTEMBER 5, 2007
MOVIES