Christopher Walken saves the day... had it not been his presence of the film, I'd have likely been quite tempted to skip this one altogether; having sat through it, though, I've got material to stretch this review beyond one paragraph.
Randy, 12, is a rockin' ping-pong player whose gambling father bets on his game. Randy misses a shot during the 1988 Olympics, losing to Karl, and his dad was killed since he couldn't pay off his debts to the Chinese Triad leader Feng (Christopher Walken). 19 years later, FBI agent Rodriguez recruits him for a secret mission to get Feng. Randy reluctantly agrees, practices with blind trainer Wong, and practices with Wong's hot niece Maggie. Randy is invited to the super-secret world championship, hosted by Feng, and the players all end up in his Central American ranch.
I could continue on and on, but you've seen this movie before -- just different character names and faces. "Delta Farce" leaps to mind as one such inane recent example. The character development has all the depth of a puddle on a hot August day, the jokes are infrequent, and the running gag of 'I'm going to Disneyland,' that Randy uttered to news cameras after losing at age 12 got tired nearly as quickly as it was spoken.
Walken carries the burden of the flimsy script, managing to convert a few trite lines and cheesy jokes into something a bit more amusing (but when you're handed lead, it's hard to spin it to gold). The notion that this white guy is the leader of an ancient Chinese crime family is a stretch the makers didn't bother to delve into, but it doesn't matter -- with him, we could have easily ended up with another "Are We There/Done Yet?".
Lots on theatres right now, and if Walken isn't a fav of yours, you may be best served by dropping your $10 on another title. Any title will do, really.
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