Shadows on the Wall

Balls Up

dir Peter Farrelly
scr Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese
prd Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, Andrew Muscato, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger
with Mark Wahlberg, Paul Walter Hauser, Benjamin Bratt, Molly Shannon, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eva De Dominici, Daniela Melchior, Eric Andre, Chelsey Crisp, Luciano Szafir, Jackson Tozer, Henrietta Amevor
release US/UK 15.Apr.26
26/US MGM 1h44

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Peter Farrelly returns to his gleefully smutty roots with this snappy comedy, which has a plot centred around condoms merely to allow for a barrage of rude jokes from Deadpool writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese. It's a loose, goofy movie that's only entertaining in its throwaway one-liners. When it kicks into action, it becomes flatly ridiculous. And in the end, it's witty but not particularly funny.

To boost sales, condom designer Elijah (Hauser) proposes promoting a new product alongside Brazil's forthcoming World Cup. His boss (Shannon) teams him with top salesman Brad (Wahlberg), who gets football official Santos (Bratt) on board. But their celebration goes off the rails, and Elijah and Brad are fired. Three months later, they are inadvertently invited to the final match in Rio, where they make an even bigger mess. Now loathed by an entire nation, they go on the run, encountering a psychotic cartel boss (Baron Cohen) and a gang of eco warriors (including Andre and Crisp).

It's the standard odd couple set-up, as Elijah is a nervous nerd and Brad is a macho jerk. They clash repeatedly, but of course find ways to work together and bond as friends, leading to a somewhat implausible bromance. Inebriation is the catalyst for most of the mayhem in the plot, including a coked-up caiman. But most of the humour centres around sight gags connected to the male anatomy, which gives everything a homophobic overtone.

Wahlberg's Brad is a bullheaded lout who flirts shamelessly with each beautiful woman he meets. His fast-talking nonsense veers all over the place, leaving the character feeling oddly undefined. Hauser's Elijah is at least more consistent in his uptight awkwardness. They rub off on each other in the expected ways, but never remotely gain the sympathy of the audience. Around them, a sparky supporting ensemble has a lot of fun with various cartoonish side characters, even if all of them are rather thankless.

Because of its specific brand of humour, this is the kind of movie that will be best enjoyed by drunken men with a childish sense of humour. It also repeatedly (and simplistically) belittles the most popular sport on earth, which seems more than a little misguided. But then it also makes drug dealers silly and protesters stupid. An attempt to crank up sentimentality in the climactic scene is half-hearted. And the conclusion feels both rushed and startlingly glib.

themes, language, violence 15.Apr.26

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