Ping Pong Playa

As a Chinese male growing up North America, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. There are very few mainstream Asian American movies produced in the US, despite the large Asian community. Often, those that are made have a great deal of stereotypes and are made by non asians. The movie validated a lot of my feelings growing up in a traditional Chinese household, yet within an American cultural environment.

I liked this movie because it played against stereotype and made fun of the stereotypes. Real life can be really cheesy sometimes, and this movie had a lot of cheese.

From the beginning, I was startled to see a Chinese face on TV actually talking like a real person in real life, and not like a trained TV personality as a news anchor. And C-dub's character just grew on me. It was real and funny. The kids are cute. His parents were like real Chinese parents. The older smart medical brother is a stereotype but played for laughs. Even Ms Chinatown didn't look like she spoke Chinese. The Chinese would slip into the English/Chinese words in the same sentence. And thats how it really is in real life. It doesn't make sense, it lacks continuity, but its real.

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.

The title of this film was a bit confusing--as is the main character. "Ping Pong Playa" is hip-hop for "Ping Pong PLAYER". Chris is a very annoying young man. He has visions of becoming an NBA star--though he is in his 20s, never played a higher level of basketball than junior varsity and he's really not that good. In fact, he's a pathetic loser who plays pick-up games for cash....against children! He also talks like a hip-hop wannabe--something that is strange coming from a Chinese-American. And, to top it off, he's very annoying and a guy who's easy to dislike.

Chris goes through life losing jobs and amounting to nothing until one day there is an accident. His mother and brother have their wrists injured--and this is a problem as the family (aside from Chris) are ping pong wizards--owning their own ping pong store and being ping pong champs. So, it's up to Chris to take over the class--and he teaches the kids next to nothing. Yet, oddly, they idolize him. What's next? See this incredibly strange sports movie and find out for yourself. Will Chris rise to the occasion or will he continue to be an embarrassment to his hardworking family?

There were a few things I liked about the film--beginning with the words from the opening rap song. I also loved the little kids--they were cute and provided interesting 'friends' for Chris. And, I liked how ridiculous Chris looked driving a teeny, tiny motor scooter! My only reservations are that the film is formulaic (and aren't most sports films?) and Chris is a bit too annoying at times and he really is awfully easy to hate. Still, it's a cute little independent film and I'd like to see more from these folks. Worth seeing.

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.

This funny movie plays on stereotypes... in a way that doesn't offend. The main character desperately wishes to be a basketball great, yet his hoop dreams are never fulfilled, due in part to his ineptitude and cultural background (lack of support culturally). When his mother is injured the protagonist is needed to teach ping-pong classes against his wishes, over time he slowly rises to the challenge, with some funny results. Thankfully it lacks the typical romantically driven plot associated with many comedies, thought a boy meets girl vibe does exist. In essence a "fish out of water" tale with surprising results. It is a comedy without rude and vulgar humor, yet still funnier than most that utilize such. Pleasantly surprising in almost every way.

(my first review. bare in mind that I judge movies by genre, i.e.: a "good" comedy may not be as "good" as an equally rated drama, or thriller, etc...).