TIFF Report: Ping Pong Playa review

Posted by Mack at 6:18am.

Posted in Film News , Comedy, Asia, USA & Canada, Toronto Film Festival 2007.

Christopher “C-dub” Wang boasts a streetwise swagger and dreams of becoming a basketball star. There’s just one thing, he is not good at basketball, unmindful that beating grade school children on an 8’ foot rim is not going to start his dream career. His parents are both former champions of ping pong and their other son, Michael, is the current community champion. When Michael and Mrs. Wang are injured in a car accident, the family needs someone to take over the mother’s teaching duties. It is up to “C-dub” to hold the reins, looking after her class, a group of nerds and social recluses. Having never really learned anything about the sport he pretty much baby-sits this crew of misfits, playing for lunch money, and doing enough just to make the time pass quicker. And when the family livelihood and reputation are at stake it is up to “C-dub” to put up or shut up, enter the championship, and save the family business and name.

Ping Pong Playa marks a departure for Oscar-winning documentary director, Jessica Yu, making what is essentially an Asian-American comedy film. Penned by herself and its star, Jimmy Tsai, their script runs the full course of social issues facing the Asian-American community; cultural identity, stereotypes, ambition and courses in life. While that could have been heavy-handed instead the script goes for lots of laughs and simply entertains from beginning to end. The script is very funny though some of the humor does feel forced. And some of the jokes are ‘expected’, you know when some of the jokes are coming before they’re pitched. Though not detrimental to the film it does show a dependence on conventions. But in the end it is still a funny movie, a funny Asian-American movie.

Jimmy Tsai does well portraying Christopher. An accountant in real life his fingerprints are all over the film, in the script, in the sets and production. Jim Lau and Elizabeth Sung are both very strong in the roles of his parents. Khary Payton’s JP Money is an excellent compliment to Christopher’s American ego “C-dub”, but he also proves to serve as his conscious, his Jiminy Cricket, later in the film. The children in Christopher’s crew are likable but I would have liked them more if they were more relaxed in front of the camera. And thank god for Smith Cho as the love interest Jennifer.

Only one thing does trouble me about the script and that is the portrayal of England in the film. It has at times in my own life proven difficult for me to account for mistakes of my birth country’s past. To see Yu’s film dwell heavily on it; even creating an ‘us and them’ mentality in the film’s third act begs the question, “Who is this film made for?” Are we trying to break down walls by creating an accessible and funny film that everyone can enjoy, or, is Yu’s target audience only the Asian community, and by large, all the minority communities. Will her movie break down walls or just add cement to the bricks? To talk about such issues as the origins of Ping Pong, loss of Asian identity and objectification of Asian women [guilty], only to counter those issues with something like this is a bit of a let down.