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
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08/08/09
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Ping Pong Playa (2007)
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Reviews Counted:32
Fresh:21
Rotten:11
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: A gentle, light, kid friendly comedy about a Chinese-American hoopster turned ping pong pro, Playa is a charming but considerable digression from director Jessica Yu's previous works.
Theatrical Release:Sep 5, 2008 Limited
Synopsis: Christopher "C-dub" Wang is a suburban guy who sports an urban swagger, waxes political on all things Asian American, and clings to pipe dreams of a career as a pro basketball player. Blaming... [More]
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Reviews for Ping Pong Playa
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]
02/15/09
An endless stream of near-misses.
01/16/09
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 ...
11/12/08
Overall the movie was enjoyable but not amazing.
11/04/08
Gently pokes fun at model minority and athletic stereotypes, but gets repetitive and wears thin before the engaging plot finally kicks into gear.
11/01/08
Charming despite requisite training sequences and a cartoonishly evil opponent.
10/18/08
Top CriticIf you go into Ping Pong Playa' expecting a light, predictable comedy, it would be hard to come out unsatisfied.
09/29/08
Ping Pong Playa falters on formula only occasionally, but otherwise remains a consistently agreeable romp that strikes just the right chord of ironic sentimentally.
09/12/08
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.
09/11/08
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.
09/11/08
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.
09/05/08
Top CriticA 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.
09/05/08
Top CriticA mostly amusing, appealing family comedy about going from pretender to contender, in life as well as pingpong.
09/05/08
Top CriticThe 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.
09/05/08
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.
09/05/08
Top CriticVery broad humor and sloppy storytelling pave the way to a requisite Rocky ending.
09/05/08
There's a deeper, touching acknowledgment of braggadocio as persona, how the commodified dissent of hip-hop lends itself to masking insecurities.
09/05/08
Top CriticBright 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.
09/04/08
A fleet-footed, featherweight comedy riddled with cliches, but nonetheless charming and winning.
09/04/08
Latest News for Ping Pong Playa
September 04, 2008:
Box Office Guru Preview: Cage Offers One Night in Bangkok
Multiplexes will be filled this weekend...with tumbleweeds. The frame after the Labor Day holiday is often the worst-performing session of the whole year at the box office and... More...
September 03, 2008:
RT Exclusive: Ping Pong Playa featurette!
Ping pong. Has its time come at last? The sport's been getting more and more attention from the movies, the latest arriving in the form of Ping Pong Playa. Rotten Tomatoes has... More...
July 20, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
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