The premise behind 'Balls of Fury' is simple: martial arts classic 'Enter the Dragon' meets the edgy underground sport of ping pong (dodge ball and figure-skating were already taken). Throw in Christopher Walken as a flamboyant Chinese warlord and a Def Leppard soundtrack and you have an instant hit, right?

This is no doubt what went through the minds of Robert Ben Grant and Thomas Lennon when they sat down to pen this absurd comedy. And it almost works. Stuck somewhere between a Jackie Chan and a Will Ferrell, this potentially hilarious film fails to make the most of either comedic genre.

Randy Daytona (Dan Fogler, but could just as easily have been Jack Black/Will Ferrell) is a washed-up ping pong prodigy who, having lost the '88 Olympics to the German Karl Wolfschtagg (Thomas Lennon), is now performing tricks in a dodgy Reno theatre. As is so often the case with has-been ping pongers, an FBI agent (George Lopez) interrupts his meaningless life with an offer he can’t refuse. The country needs his help to bring down the notorious Chinese triad boss Feng (Christopher Walken).

Feng, as fate would have it, is something of a ping pong connoisseur who holds exclusive invitation-only ping pong competitions. Naturally, Randy is a little rusty and the FBI enlist Feng's former teacher to whip the overweight and stylistically-challenged hero into shape. Under the tutelage of blind Mr Wong (James Hong) — insert a Mr Miyagi joke here — and his hot ass-kicking niece (Maggie Q), Randy becomes the ping pong player he was born to be and earns a spot in Feng's to-the-death tournament.

What follows involves an absurdly dressed, but (as always) fabulous Christopher Walken, a dominatrix henchwoman, male sex slaves and some funny cameo appearances by the likes of Terry Crews and Thomas Lennon.

While 'Balls of Fury' will probably still elicit a few chuckles and smiles, this is not essential big screen viewing. Catch it on DVD — you shouldn’t have to wait too long.