hardboiled

review: ping pong playa

Jessica Yu’s lighthearted comedy pokes fun at racial stereotypes

“Access denied!” is all that can be heard on the basketball court as a young, tall Christopher Wang (Jimmy Tsai) asserts his dominance on the court through a flamboyant display of dunking prowess and blocking ability.

At first, it seems as if Ping Pong Playa is going to be about an Asian American basketball player with the skills to bring his game to the professional level. In fact, given director Jessica Yu’s track record of critically-acclaimed documentaries (including the Oscar-winning Breathing Lessons), it wouldn’t have been surprising if the movie started detailing Wang’s journey to becoming the next Yao Ming (heck, he was even wearing a #11 Rockets jersey).

The sense of inspiration is short-lived, however, when the camera zooms out to reveal that “C-Dub” Wang has been playing against 10-year-olds on a miniature basketball hoop. This situation is reflective of Tsai’s character, who is a hopeless underachiever overshadowed by a stereotypical physician brother—who also happens to be a ping pong champion. Only when Wang’s mother (who runs a ping pong class) is injured in a car accident does our unlikely protagonist realize that he must choose between his dreams of playing in the NBA and fulfilling his family duty.

In addition to the predictable storyline, the humor in Yu’s first attempt at a comedy is often a hit or miss. The movie has its fair share of witty one-liners and sexual innuendo—the central ping pong tournament that Wang must train for is called “The Golden Cock”—but a large chunk of Yu’s humor comes from mocking racial stereotypes. Most of it is amusing and upbeat (Wang’s sidekick is an African-American who speaks Chinese), but some of the jokes are stretched far and could easily come off as distasteful. No race is spared in this film, as Yu pokes fun at Blacks, Whites, and of course, Asians.

Moreover, the movie never really scrapes beneath the surface on issues of identity, family, and culture, all three of which permeate the film. While Wang’s nonstop and well-executed trash-talking makes for some entertaining fodder, any attempt at making social commentary on the dilemmas that exist in the movie are as lackadaisical as Wang’s attitude towards life. As a result, the novelty of having an unlikely hero quickly wears thin as Wang prefers to settle most encounters by opening a can of smack talk.

Ping Pong Playa is a clear departure from Yu’s other films; rather than delving deep into the topics of the film (as she has done with her documentaries), Yu has chosen a more fun and lighthearted approach to her first comedy. The result is slapstick humor that provides plenty of cheap laughs but plays it safe. In fact, the producers have decided to play it so safe they every word of profanity (and there are a lot) is censored with the conspicuous sound of a bouncing basketball. It’s almost as if this movie was deliberately geared towards a younger audience, such that any profound social commentary would neither be understood or necessary.