'Balls Up' Review
- Connor Petrey
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Release Date: 04/15/26 [Prime Video]
Genre: Action. Comedy. Crime. Sport.
MPAA: Rated R.
Distributor: Amazon MGM Studios.
The Verdict: A Mistake
Balls Up is yet another “comedy” from the man behind such 90s classics as Dumb & Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, and Kingpin… how far we’ve come. Ever since (and even before) Peter Farrelly won the Academy Award for Green Book, he’s had seemingly a blank check to do what he will in terms of comedy, particularly for streaming. He has yet to recapture the essence of the 90s.
Starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser as failed businessmen who happen to find themselves at the World Cup and are seemingly insulted by the mascot on the field. Things lead to another, and the two find themselves ruining the results of the game and becoming the #1 enemy of the country of Brazil. Now the pair must fend for their lives to find sanctuary somewhere that will accept their mistake.
Only one minute and thirty-eight seconds into the film, I had already considered bailing because the suction cupped sex toy jokes were coming a mile a minute with no precision. It worried me… made me wonder if this was in fact going to be the entirety of the film, and it was. The comedy bits are ridiculously scatterbrained throughout with no method to the madness, while they’re on the run, their course is anything but planned, it seems. Wahlberg and Hauser, unfortunately, lack a contagious chemistry on screen that radiates charm and charisma, so when the comedy falters, this is yet another factor to consider.
From the aforementioned sex toy jokes, endless condom scenarios, flesheating fish in penises, a Larry David cameo, and a karaoke number to Somebody I Used to Know. This movie is weird and not with good intentions. It comes down to multiple factors: the direction, the editing, the obvious improv, the general writing, and Sacha Baron Cohen not doing an over-the-top accent to try to “complement” his character.
Balls Up is a bewildering comedic experience, namely because it’s such a painful trial to sit through, and comedies like this should never make it beyond 90 minutes or, more importantly, pass the cutting room floor to our screen.
