Ping Pong Playa (2007)

66% of critics liked it
(32 reviews)
48% of users liked it
(6,932 ratings)

An aimless young Chinese-American finds his hoop dreams unexpectedly sidelined when his parents are injured in an accident and he is forced to give ping-pong lessons in the fiction feature debut of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jessica Yu (In the Realms of the Unreal). Christopher "C-dub" Wang… More An aimless young Chinese-American finds his hoop dreams unexpectedly sidelined when his parents are injured in an accident and he is forced to give ping-pong lessons in the fiction feature debut of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jessica Yu (In the Realms of the Unreal). Christopher "C-dub" Wang (Jimmy Tsai) may not be able to sink a lay-up to save his life, yet he longs to realize his lifelong goal of playing in the NBA. Add to this the fact that C-dub still lives at home and will likely never emerge from under the shadow of his successful older brother, Michael (Roger Fan), and it's beginning to look like this wannabe pro-athlete is going nowhere fast. C-dub's parents (Jim Lau and Elizabeth Sung) are a pair of former table tennis champs who now own a successful ping-pong supply shop and teach lessons on the side. Much like his parents were back in the day, C-dub's brother Michael (Roger Fan) is a ping-pong wizard who is championed by the Chinese community for taking top rank in the tournaments year after year. But now, Michael and C-dub's parents have both been injured in a car accident, forcing the ill-equipped -- and extremely reluctant -- family slacker to take over the ping-pong teaching duties. While at first C-dub doesn't take his new responsibility all too seriously, he quickly discovers that the future of his family rests in his hands after Michael is injured and rendered unable to compete in this year's championships. Soon, C-dub realizes that by stepping in for Michael and winning the championships, he may also be able to win the heart of the girl he has fallen head over heels in love with. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Jessica Yu
Written By: Jessica Yu, Jimmy Tsai
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Comedy

In Theaters: Sep 9, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jan 6, 2009
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Michael Esposito, Chicago Tribune
Charming despite requisite training sequences and a cartoonishly evil opponent.
Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times
The movie doesn't take its broad, jokey premise terribly far, but it manages to sustain a goofy-sweet comic energy and offers sly observations about assimilation, sibling rivalry and the art of competitive maternal bragging.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
A decidedly lightweight amusement, the first comedy from documentary filmmaker Jessica Yu is the sort of movie that works best if you keep your expectations low.
G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
A mostly amusing, appealing family comedy about going from pretender to contender, in life as well as pingpong.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Interest in Playa lies in the fact that director Jessica Yu is a documentarian with a daring taste in subjects. Yet in her first non-doc feature, she plays it safe; even the championship showdown feels polite.
Nathan Lee, New York Times
There's a deeper, touching acknowledgment of braggadocio as persona, how the commodified dissent of hip-hop lends itself to masking insecurities.
Leo Goldsmith, indieWIRE
Mostly a little shrewder about stereotypes than your typical slacker comedy, deriving its edge from Yu and Tsai's mining of the cultural specificity of Asian-America for laughs
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews
One way to break down cultural walls is assimilation, and that's where Ping Pong Playa has its dubious triumph: it's just about as generic as the next 'loser makes good by coaching kids' comedy...[Blu-ray]
David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com
An endless stream of near-misses.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
A transparent romance flick featuring a refreshingly appealing parade of well-developed, Asian-American characters who make the movie enjoyable by turning an array of common cinematic stereotypes on their heads.
Andy Klein, Los Angeles CityBeat
Ace documentarian Jessica Yu's fictional feature debut ... is mostly funny and often cute, but it suffers a bit in comparison to the very similar Foot Fist Way ...
Jeff Wong, Film Threat
Overall the movie was enjoyable but not amazing.
Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com
Gently pokes fun at model minority and athletic stereotypes, but gets repetitive and wears thin before the engaging plot finally kicks into gear.
Monika Bartyzel, Cinematical
If you go into Ping Pong Playa' expecting a light, predictable comedy, it would be hard to come out unsatisfied.
Ted Fry, Seattle Times
Ping Pong Playa falters on formula only occasionally, but otherwise remains a consistently agreeable romp that strikes just the right chord of ironic sentimentally.
Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Asian-American cinema breaks out of its identity crisis with a comedy that is competitive with the American standard while addressing social and cultural issues particular to minority audiences.
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
There's no resisting the movie's antic affability or its irreverence, even with Chris's unavoidable progression toward the mature appreciation of his roots.
Maitland McDonagh, TV Guide's Movie Guide
The result is has a certain silly, kid-friendly charm, and Yu astutely chose to clean up C-Dog's profane language by 'bleeping' the harsher bits with the sound of a bouncing basketball.
Susan Green, Boxoffice Magazine
Very broad humor and sloppy storytelling pave the way to a requisite Rocky ending.
Diva Velez, TheDivaReview.com
Bright and hilarious, Ping Pong Playa is a so-silly-it's-smart comedy starring Jimmy Tsai, whose uproarious cinematic id, C-dub, is a character I would be happy to watch for many sequels to come.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Melvin W

"People always think that, you know, Chinese people are only good at math, martial arts, and mu shu pork, you know? But basketball, hey, that was really my thing back in the day, you know what I'm saying? I used to play on the JV squad." Ping Pong Playa is about… More
"People always think that, you know, Chinese people are only good at math, martial arts, and mu shu pork, you know? But basketball, hey, that was really my thing back in the day, you know what I'm saying? I used to play on the JV squad." Ping Pong Playa is about Christopher "C-Dub" Wang. He's an underachieving, lazy young adult who has no ambitions. He spends his time playing video games, reading comic books, and making up excuses about why he's not in the NBA. Obviously it's genetic, he is Chinese and says that we are all short. He starts teaching a ping pong class and ultimately ends up competing in a ping pong competition in order to keep his families ping pong business thriving. Honestly I expected to find Ping Pong Playa horrible. It's anything but horrible though. Jimmy Tsai as C-Dub was great. The ping pong scenes were really well done. The movie was very funny and had a lot to say about different stereotypes, such as Chinese people can't drive. Ping Pong Playa turned out to be a cool little movie. Hey, it beats Balls of Fury.
Lanning :

Totally ridiculous and very well done : )
Leigh R

Stupid, but made me laugh. I ended up liking it...
EightThirty .

Funny asian dude... Makes you laugh hard out ha ha ha
Rico Z

It's the Chinese Napoleon Dynamite!!! Except this one trades in tether-ball for ping pong (or the more "politically-correct" term: table tennis.) The movie was a lot more funny than Napoleon was at first viewing. This is the story of a dweeb loser who is Chinese but… More
It's the Chinese Napoleon Dynamite!!! Except this one trades in tether-ball for ping pong (or the more "politically-correct" term: table tennis.) The movie was a lot more funny than Napoleon was at first viewing. This is the story of a dweeb loser who is Chinese but thinks he is black. If you think you've seen this stereotype many times before, you're right. But never will you see it be so funny and refreshing. Not to mention, endearing. There are tons of funny situations involving a fat kid, a duo of ambiguously gay ping pong rivals, and a tight pair of shorts. This is a great romp for anyone looking for a great laugh. Nothing serious here--just a helluva good time.