Then again, it IS the best ping pong movie I've ever seen: "Balls of Fury"

Unless I'm missing something. Heck, all I can recall by comparison is that "Friends" episode where we learn Chandler can play this magical game. His opponent? Wait for it ... Paul Rudd!

This trailer looked pretty funny last year, but I was sure enough that we were seeing only the best stuff -- and the reviews were lukewarm enough -- that I passed on a theater viewing. For $1.07 at the Redbox, though, it was just my speed for Saturday afternoon viewing while the little one napped. Had I spent any more cash or wasted a Netflix rental on this, I'd be rather annoyed.

Our story has a former ping pong prodigy (Dan "Who?" Fogler) now plying his trade in a pathetic stage show. He's recruited by an FBI agent (George Lopez) to infiltrate a secret ping pong tournament held by a crime lord (Christopher "Paycheck, please" Walken), who also is the guy responsible for our hero's father's death. To prepare himself, our hero trains with a ping pong master (James "That guy" Hong) and his comely niece (Maggie Q).

If this sounds like "Enter the Dragon," well, it is, except with paddles. Of course, "Balls of Fury" has more laughs. That's not to say it has a lot, just more than a straightforward Bruce Lee action movie. There's the title -- "Balls of Fury," hee hee -- a scene with Patton Oswalt as a goofy ping pong champ ("Tastes gooooood!"), the schtick with the pleasure slaves and ... that's about it.

I can't say I was disappointed by this movie because my expectations weren't high. And sure, there were a few other funny lines and scenes. But for a 90-minute movie, this sure felt long, mainly because a lot of stuff fell flat. Or maybe you think it's still funny to see so many people get kicked in the crotch.

Let us count the problems. First we have Fogler, who is a cross between Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds" and your generic fat-guy comic. Nearly every time I saw him -- and he's on screen most of the movie, I thought, "Jack Black out of your price range?"Not good. Second, Walken is so obviously here just for the cash and -- even more than usual -- doing his Walken thing that it's kind of sad. Third, Lopez brought nothing to the table. Fourth, for every clever line, there's another that gets repeated over and over ... and wasn't funny the first time.

But hey, Maggie Q looks good, and Thomas Lennon and Diedrich "Rex Kwon Do" Bader are both funny in limited roles. And ... yeah, that's it. Wow. Just thinking of when I saw trailers for both this and "Superbad" before a movie last year, and wondered which one would be funnier. Kind of silly now.