Balls Up

Balls Up is juvenile entertainment, handled by professionals.

There are slapstick foibles, sight gags about rubbers, and many, many vulgar jokes — some good for a laugh, though I doubt the film’s Oscar prospects.

A mostly pretty innocuous affair — give or take some par-for-the-course ethnic stereotyping and at least one close-up involving a prosthetic glans — it’s neither good nor bad to any memorable degree, not as riotous as it could have been but not devoid of low-hanging laughs either.

Farrelly’s film wanders aimlessly without being driven by anything absurd or outrageous enough to conjure a Hangover-like reaction, nor anything with enough humanity to justify the occasional heart-to-heart conversations between Brad and Elijah.

Farrelly’s movie, like his comic shock-shtick, gets old in a hurry.

Wahlberg should not be cast in any role predicated on the idea that he’s good with words and ideas. Hauser is one of the best actors in the English language and will escape this disaster and do more great work, so there’s that.

The cinematic equivalent of being teabagged without your consent.

Peter Farrelly is half of the famed Farrelly Brothers, who are known for such classics as “There’s Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber.” He’s gone on to direct several other comedies including this one and it primarily sticks to their love of gross-out sex comedy…this time with flat results. Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser play marketing execs who want the land the condom sponsorship for the World Cup with their new concept (it covers the balls). Things are going well until they don’t and the duo ends up on the run. Wahlberg can sometimes effectively deliver deadpan lines and Hauser can shine with his awkward style. Sadly, they’re both trying too hard and the flacid script doesn’t offer them many opportunities for genuine humor. There are expected gross out, slapstick moments and some supporting stretches from Sacha Baron Cohen and Molly Shannon that also don’t add much. Farrelly’s last comic outing was “Ricky Stanicky,” which was very funny (my review). This time he’s hindered by writing that offers little hope of comic enjoyment.

Two good laughs. Other than that, this is not a good movie. A lot of wasted talent: Walberg, Houser, Sacha Baron Cohen, Dumb & Dumber director, and Deadpool writers. You've been warned.

Um desrespeito completo com o Brasil... Até a frota de carros que apareceu no filme foi ridícula.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I came expecting a modern version of Harold and Kumar, instead we got this trash. The screenplay is poorly written. This entire movie is a forgettable mish mash of awful characters making poor choices. I switched it off after 40mins of trying to enjoy it. I do miss older comedies that had a purer spirit to them. Absolute waste of the clearly talented cast and production crew.