I came into the movie not expecting a whole lot from it as a comedy, and to be honest it didn't wow me, but I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be.
Is this film funny? Yes it can be at times. Does it have observational humor about Asian Americans? Yes it definitely does. However, it rarely goes beyond that, and where the film certainly had the chance to paint a more striking image of the realities of being Asian American, it chooses to stay unapologetically light. That isn't to say that it's off the mark with its observations: the film just chooses to paint a more lighthearted and less realistic picture. Think of Happy Gilmore but with ping pong, and a modern Asian American perspective.
The film follows the life of a 20 something Chinese-American basketball player, or "playa", or "balla" if you prefer, named Christopher "C-Dub" Wang. The character is one of a growing number of Asians who talk in a slur of Ebonics and hip-hop. Call them AZNs if you want, but they've grown significantly in some parts of the country as Asians seem to look to the Hip-Hop culture to give definition to their "AZN pride" and stand as a contrast from the passive stereotypes that are held about traditional Asian/Chinese culture. The film opens in a typical fashion as we meet Chris on a basketball court... playing 8-10 year olds. It becomes rapidly obvious that he is one of so many washouts who always dream of hitting it big, going pro, or starting some hot business scheme. He's silly, oblivious, and so vitriolic about others keeping the "Chinese man" down that I initially thought that he was meant to be portrayed as "uppity". His character is somewhat relatable, but at times he just seems too much in his own world and too much a caricature for his own good.
The plot moves itself pretty swiftly along as you learn that his entire family is supremely dedicated to playing ping pong. His father was a ping pong champ, his mother teaches ping pong at the local Chinese culture center, and his brother is a reigning champion who fits clearly into the role of the "good son". Eventually, a fateful car accident puts Chris' mother and brother out of commission as Chris then is assigned to be the resident ping pong teacher at the culture center. As you can probably guess, if you've ever seen The Mighty Ducks, Cool Runnings, Dodgeball or any other comedy sport movie worth its salt, Chris will eventually get sucked into playing by his lovable loser students, by his affections for the resident love interest, and by the arrogant/racist crooning of the big shot white-guy player in town. We all know what happens from here: cut to the big tournament where Chris has everyone rooting for him, his self respect, success, and the honor of his family resting on the paddle that is tightly clenched in his hand. He has to beat the arrogant big shot, win the tournament, gain the affection of his love interest, and find his true path in life as the new bad-boy of Ping Pong.
As you can tell, the film is basically a paint by numbers affair, but it's made with its own style and outlook that twists things just right enough to remain entertaining. Chris is such a caricature of that lost generation who was told they could do anything, but never found out they couldn't. He blames his "genetic deficiency" of being a shorter Asian guy for being bad at basketball, and yet his nostrils flare at the mere presumption that some white dude wants to put his people down. This kind of gets resolved, but for me it made the first half of the film embarrassing to watch. However, I suppose that's the point. We're supposed to feel bad for Chris, and recognize that he is a loser. In the end, it's not a triumph, but a relief that he decides to go forward in life and succeed at what he's truly good at.
The film is competently told and decently shot, and as for the Asian American nature of the film, it's played more for laughs than seriousness. It disappoints me that the director, Jessica Yu, didn't decide to really go more in depth into the current affairs of Asian American culture. The most astute thing that was said in this film was by resident love interest as she confesses that she hates being stereotyped as a sexually alluring exotic feminine object by westerners, and that's basically all the hard hitting insight you get. But really, the film decides to use the Asian American theme as more of a backdrop, and a setup for silly caricatures and funny laughs. It's all done in a lighthearted manner, and clearly by someone who's tuned in enough to know how to poke fun without being degrading.
All in all, I think it was enjoyable enough, but if you're looking for a tense drama about the nature of the Asian American Diaspora, maybe you'd better look elsewhere.
One last thing I wanted to note. About Chris' "Ebonics" speech: it was way too over the top for my tastes. The guy uses so much outdated slang, words like "sheezy", or "mammy jammy" (seriously "mammy jammy"? who says that past 1994?). The whole thing makes Chris aka. C-dubb look like he's some kind of pathetic black guy wannabe who got his accent and lingo from repeatedly watching fresh prince of Bela air. In the end, I think it's more just that the writers probably didn't do enough research because as much as I'm not into the AZN thing, I give them a bit more credit in terms of their awareness of hip-hop than "mammy jammy".
Is this film funny? Yes it can be at times. Does it have observational humor about Asian Americans? Yes it definitely does. However, it rarely goes beyond that, and where the film certainly had the chance to paint a more striking image of the realities of being Asian American, it chooses to stay unapologetically light. That isn't to say that it's off the mark with its observations: the film just chooses to paint a more lighthearted and less realistic picture. Think of Happy Gilmore but with ping pong, and a modern Asian American perspective.
The film follows the life of a 20 something Chinese-American basketball player, or "playa", or "balla" if you prefer, named Christopher "C-Dub" Wang. The character is one of a growing number of Asians who talk in a slur of Ebonics and hip-hop. Call them AZNs if you want, but they've grown significantly in some parts of the country as Asians seem to look to the Hip-Hop culture to give definition to their "AZN pride" and stand as a contrast from the passive stereotypes that are held about traditional Asian/Chinese culture. The film opens in a typical fashion as we meet Chris on a basketball court... playing 8-10 year olds. It becomes rapidly obvious that he is one of so many washouts who always dream of hitting it big, going pro, or starting some hot business scheme. He's silly, oblivious, and so vitriolic about others keeping the "Chinese man" down that I initially thought that he was meant to be portrayed as "uppity". His character is somewhat relatable, but at times he just seems too much in his own world and too much a caricature for his own good.
The plot moves itself pretty swiftly along as you learn that his entire family is supremely dedicated to playing ping pong. His father was a ping pong champ, his mother teaches ping pong at the local Chinese culture center, and his brother is a reigning champion who fits clearly into the role of the "good son". Eventually, a fateful car accident puts Chris' mother and brother out of commission as Chris then is assigned to be the resident ping pong teacher at the culture center. As you can probably guess, if you've ever seen The Mighty Ducks, Cool Runnings, Dodgeball or any other comedy sport movie worth its salt, Chris will eventually get sucked into playing by his lovable loser students, by his affections for the resident love interest, and by the arrogant/racist crooning of the big shot white-guy player in town. We all know what happens from here: cut to the big tournament where Chris has everyone rooting for him, his self respect, success, and the honor of his family resting on the paddle that is tightly clenched in his hand. He has to beat the arrogant big shot, win the tournament, gain the affection of his love interest, and find his true path in life as the new bad-boy of Ping Pong.
As you can tell, the film is basically a paint by numbers affair, but it's made with its own style and outlook that twists things just right enough to remain entertaining. Chris is such a caricature of that lost generation who was told they could do anything, but never found out they couldn't. He blames his "genetic deficiency" of being a shorter Asian guy for being bad at basketball, and yet his nostrils flare at the mere presumption that some white dude wants to put his people down. This kind of gets resolved, but for me it made the first half of the film embarrassing to watch. However, I suppose that's the point. We're supposed to feel bad for Chris, and recognize that he is a loser. In the end, it's not a triumph, but a relief that he decides to go forward in life and succeed at what he's truly good at.
The film is competently told and decently shot, and as for the Asian American nature of the film, it's played more for laughs than seriousness. It disappoints me that the director, Jessica Yu, didn't decide to really go more in depth into the current affairs of Asian American culture. The most astute thing that was said in this film was by resident love interest as she confesses that she hates being stereotyped as a sexually alluring exotic feminine object by westerners, and that's basically all the hard hitting insight you get. But really, the film decides to use the Asian American theme as more of a backdrop, and a setup for silly caricatures and funny laughs. It's all done in a lighthearted manner, and clearly by someone who's tuned in enough to know how to poke fun without being degrading.
All in all, I think it was enjoyable enough, but if you're looking for a tense drama about the nature of the Asian American Diaspora, maybe you'd better look elsewhere.
One last thing I wanted to note. About Chris' "Ebonics" speech: it was way too over the top for my tastes. The guy uses so much outdated slang, words like "sheezy", or "mammy jammy" (seriously "mammy jammy"? who says that past 1994?). The whole thing makes Chris aka. C-dubb look like he's some kind of pathetic black guy wannabe who got his accent and lingo from repeatedly watching fresh prince of Bela air. In the end, I think it's more just that the writers probably didn't do enough research because as much as I'm not into the AZN thing, I give them a bit more credit in terms of their awareness of hip-hop than "mammy jammy".