Ping Pong Playa

It’s all fun and games to playa hate on Ping Pong. But not to the Chinese. In a sport that originated in China (not in England, as white people claim, apparently…) Chinese people take the art of the Pong very seriously. (Balls of Fury can make fun of this one all they want. Yes, at times that movie was funny, but it is considered a sport.) But this movie

Yao Ming ballin’ it up at a Ping Pong table?

doesn’t take itself too seriously. Written by Jimmy Tsai the star of the film, combined with Jessica Yu’s directing and co-writing, comes a lighthearted and inspirational film that resets the Chinese at the top of the crop in table tennis.

At the start of the film we are introduced to C-dubs (Jimmy Tsai). He has amateur dreams of becoming an NBA basketball player, following in the famous footsteps of Yao Ming. In a mock interview with someone made to look like Ron Howard (Jonathan Oliver playing “Jon Howard), C-dubs attempts to shake the Asian stereotypes that are held over his head with his ghetto dialect, an effort in vain.

Everyone has 4th grader friends, right?

His parents, Mr. (Jim Lau) and Mrs. (Elizabeth Sung) Wang find him lazy and apathetic to the world of Ping Pong, despite owning and operating a Ping Pong equipment shop and Ping Pong lessons at the local community center. Spending all his days with his black friend, JP Money (Khary Payton) and his 4th grader friend Felix (Andrew Vo), C-dubs looks hopeless. Until the day that his older brother Michael (Roger Fan) gets into an accident with his mother, who is no longer able to host her Ping Pong lessons. It is up to C-dubs to hold down the fort and teach some Ping Pong.

As you can expect from an inspirational film like this, C-dubs is very resistant at first. He goes to the community center with no desire to

DESTROY THOSE FOOLS.

teach, despite having a talent from a young age. You know it’s getting in the way of his training for basketball, but there’s a little surprise with that… With the help of his elementary level school friends and the interest of a young and beautiful Chinese woman, Jennifer (Smith Cho). When rep is on the line, C-dubs picks it up and realizes he has been a mess his whole life. Time to step up to the paddles.

King Erotic, you’ve come back…

There are a few great appearances in this movie. Stephanie Weir from MadTV makes an appearance as the awkwardly racist Ping Pong judge. Shelley Malil from The 40 Year Old Virgin is also featured as the father of one of the awkward Indian kids who is to smart for his own good. And, what may be the best, is Khary Payton as C-dub’s black friend. Many may not recognize him, but his was King Erotic in the Troy/300 spoof, The Legend of Awesomest Maximus. Man was he latently homosexual in that movie…

The acting was fine and there were laughs and comedy throughout. Every time there is a swear word, a basketball bounce is played over it (making it funnier than if they had sworn). It’s a movie for teens that teaches a lesson about good

Asian fury.

sportsmanship, as well as race relations. Never judge a book by its cover (i.e. C-dubs and his bball dreams) and always have in the back of your mind that what you say may offend others. It has a nice message and doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s semi-entertaining and may not be funny for everyone, but check it out. You might learn something. 6.4 out of 10.

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Kung Fu Movie Spoof at its Finest

So I found and watched this movie a long time ago (Wow, 8 years?) and I loved it. It spoke to my inner 13 year old and the absurd potty humor this movie promotes. Being a big fan of hilarious overdubbing in films, who wouldn’t like a spoofed 70’s Kung Fu film about something absurd like battling a bad guy in league with aliens? It’s the perfect twist to an already absurd movie. Steve Oedekerk brings another funny movie to light that didn’t get the recognition it deserved. Time to give it a little now.

So the Chosen One (Steve Oedekerk) was attacked as a 3-D animated child and barely survived by rolling down a hill. His

I need gopher-chucks!

nemesis Master Pain (Leo Lee/Fei Lung) killed his family with his claws of doom and intended to kill him, but the Chosen One escaped with his skills of peeing in other people’s faces. Growing up on the ways of Kung Fu, the Chosen One grows to punch people into oblivion and use gopher-chucks. With these skills in hand, the Chosen One happens upon Master Tang (Hui Lou Chen) and begins his path in destroying Betty, his newly named nemesis and all those who fight for his cause of evil.

Steve Oedekerk brings a new kind of film (okay, 9 years old) to the mix of what is/was a growing industry of spoof movies. This unknown archived film, Tiger and Crane Fist (aka Savage Killers), was completely dubbed, to a hilarious degree. Placing himself in the film, Oedekerk interacts with the characters of the past and creates hilarious situations out of nothing. Not an easy feat, every scene has some hilarious little twist. I mean, come on, Ling (Ling-ling Hsieh) with the Wee-Ooo Wee-Ooo noise? Miss Piggy is always funny. And Wimp Lo (Chia Yung Liu) with his squeaky clown shoes and lack of fighting skill? Perfect.

Ahh the cow battle. Absurdity at its finest.

With the combo of other fighting spoof scenes (Matrix cow fight) and characters with only one chesticle, there’s nothing wrong with this movie. With only a few long drawn out jokes, this movie performs on the level of an American version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Not saying they completely equate, but they have the same feel. The lip dubbing is hilarious (not a lip-flap match) but funny nonetheless. With the guys training like pros in the yard, their fighting chants ring out with the sounds of genius. It’s a great little movie for those who are younger with elements for those who are older. Steve Oedekerk has done good things in the past (including the Thumb Wars series and various other spoof films) including a bunch of writing for decently funny cartoons like Jimmy Neutron and Back at the Barnyard, this is a good example of something that was entirely Oedekerk’s project. The only thing that rivals this would be all the work that Oedekerk did on Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Now that’s gold. So I would give this movie a dec rating. 6.7 out of 10.