Ping Pong Playa

I don't like sports movies, but this film was the compromise choice for our family, our 18-year-old son who doesn't want serious drama, my wife who doesn't want even a whiff of violence, and me who would normally watch Lars von Trier or a Russian documentary.

But the whole family found something to laugh out loud at. Parts followed the nauseatingly sweet pattern of a Disney sports movie, but other parts would NEVER have appeared in a Disney movie. Not that they were violent or inappropriate, but just off message. That made the film rewarding.

If you want to pass a few hours being mindlessly entertained, this movie is for you.

This is a "fun" and funny movie done in an original way - with moral lessons to boot. Best family suitable rental in a long while. This work in some ways is reminiscent of Tyler Perry - it doesn't play to the high brow audience, readily mixing the serious with the silly to good effect, and leveraging an American subculture as a backdrop to a story. It felt right how specific characters were constantly switching between Chinese and English to draw out the best phrasing and emphasize the bicultural significance of their lives and the challenge at hand. I'm going to check-out some of the other Jimmy Tsai projects. I was also impressed with the many supporting actors/characters. Another movie this reminded me of is Napoleon Dynamite - sound track and all, loved the "cereal" song. Best scene in the movie is when the main character's brother sets him straight - this and other scenes my kids insisted that I replay.

Ping-pong Playa is very funny at times and very uncomfortable at other times. The lead Chinese-American character Christopher Wang (pronounced Wong) or C-dub is hilarious when he does his gangsta routine. He is also very "Ghetto", quite racist and all too authentic.

The plot itself is very Karate kid lite, done on a low after-school movie budget but is pleasant enough.

But most Asian, or other minorities for that matter can relate to C-dub and both laugh and cringe. The way Caucasians are depicted is over the top but does reflect some of the frustration at the old-school-tie attitudes that are still running things - even when they are trying to be benevolent. Sadly, we have all experienced those unintentional incredibly ignorant remarks from people like the tournament director. If you are from Hong Kong or one of the former British colonies then you'd know what C-dub was sayin'...

This might have been less cringe-worthy if it had gotten out of the American immigrant self-imposed apartheid ghetto mentality. But then again maybe that works better as (un)intentional irony.

Overall, not great but it did precede things like Outsourced which deal with similar themes. C-dub's rapping is very funny (as is the Cantonese hip-hop - so bad that I'm glad they didn't translate it...) and it does give insight into Asian-American attitudes and prejudices.

I first saw this movie about 2 years ago and thought it was quite funny. After Linsanity earlier this year, I watched the movie again and there are some amazing parallels with Jeremy Lin's story, to the point that one would think this was written loosely about Jeremy Lin. What's more incredible is that Jeremy Lin ends up wearing a Rockets jersey, so C-Dub looks vaguely more like Jeremy Lin the second time around.

Anyone who wants to see some humor around stereotypes (both false and true) and loves Jeremy Lin's story should go see it. My family loved watching this movie the second time around and we recommend it.

Of course, Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Yu should be given a lot of credit for putting together a feel good movie that I can associate with. If anyone deserves to play Jeremy Lin in a future movie, it should be Jimmy Tsai. And, Jessica Yu, who is known for her documentaries should be able to tell the Jeremy Lin's story as good as any director.

Personally, I really liked this movie! Such a change in stereotypical Hollywood depictions of Asian Americans. Also, I love these LEAD Asian actors/actresses. I'm so tired of seeing stories "about" Asian Americans, just to see them in the background or shadow of the White stars.

And I love how they expressed their anger and addressed such stereotypical things that the media uses to portray Asian Americans such as "exotifying" them or saying how "passive" they all are. Yes, it may seem a little extreme how blunt the "boss" of ping pong is or the other opposing white players are in their racist remarks... but in reality things like this happen all the time. These microagressions are always here.