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

| Aug 8, 2009

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]

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 15, 2009

An endless stream of near-misses.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 16, 2009

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 ...

Full Review | Nov 12, 2008

Overall the movie was enjoyable but not amazing.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 4, 2008

Gently pokes fun at model minority and athletic stereotypes, but gets repetitive and wears thin before the engaging plot finally kicks into gear.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Nov 1, 2008

Charming despite requisite training sequences and a cartoonishly evil opponent.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 18, 2008

If you go into Ping Pong Playa' expecting a light, predictable comedy, it would be hard to come out unsatisfied.

| Sep 29, 2008

Ping Pong Playa falters on formula only occasionally, but otherwise remains a consistently agreeable romp that strikes just the right chord of ironic sentimentally.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 12, 2008

There is nothing charming about this man, nothing that makes him loveable, and if he was even slightly worthy of my sympathies and my understanding I certainly didn't see it watching this.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 12, 2008

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.

| Original Score: B | Sep 11, 2008

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.

| Sep 11, 2008

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.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 5, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 5, 2008

A mostly amusing, appealing family comedy about going from pretender to contender, in life as well as pingpong.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 5, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 5, 2008

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.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Sep 5, 2008

Very broad humor and sloppy storytelling pave the way to a requisite Rocky ending.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Sep 5, 2008

There's a deeper, touching acknowledgment of braggadocio as persona, how the commodified dissent of hip-hop lends itself to masking insecurities.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 5, 2008

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.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 4, 2008