Mr. Woodcock

Mr. Woodcock is a predictable comedy about a high school gym teacher who basically torments his students. One of his students, played by Seann William Scott, grows up to become a success author. When this former student returns to town to learn his Mom is now dating his teacher he sets out to break them up.
Mr. Woodcock stars Billy Bob Thornton in a role that he really mastered in School for Scoundrels, playing a seemingly no-nonsense, tough as nails, manly man. It’s amazing how he can play such a character but you still pull for him to come out on top.

The story itself is entertaining but the storyline really lacks key elements. It’s almost like this type of movie has been made before, so the filmmakers know this and just skip some point plots. You know that the girl introduced in the story will be Scott’s love interest even though little to no time is spent developing a story.

If you are planning to see this in the theatre, you’d be better off to wait for it to come out on DVD. The laughs are predictable but some are laugh out loud funny, too. Mr. Woodcock is rated PG-13.

Balls of Fury

There are only a handful of movies that I can recount that had me laughing almost the whole way through it. I can add Balls of Fury to that short list of movies that include There’s Something about Mary. Balls of Fury has it all: slapstick humor, physical humor, as well as some downright well delivered comedic lines.

Balls of Fury is the story of a child prodigy ping pong player Randy Daytona who choked at the 1988 Olympic games, which led to his Dad’s death, and hasn’t played the game since. 19 years later he is one of the performers in a Nevada casino. It is here he is approached by the FBI to catch bad guy Feng, who has committed many crimes and is a ping pong connoisseur and holds a tournament each year for only the best ping pong players around the world. Now the once ping pong star must get back in the game and into the tournament to help bring down the guy responsible for his Dad’s death.

Balls of Fury features some great characters like FBI Agent Rodriguez, played by George Lopez, who is out to prove that he is worthy to be an agent even though he has to follow this lame lead to Feng. There is also Maggie Wong, love interest of Daytona who also helps him train in the ways of ping pong.

The movie stars Dan Fogler as Daytona, James Hong as Master Wong, and Christopher Walken as Feng. Balls of Fury is best described as a Karate Kid-like story filled with humor. If you need a good laugh, the Balls of Fury should be a good choice.