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Prime Video<\/p>\n
A bunch of A-listers have teamed up for “Balls Up,” a new raunchy comedy that’s now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Directed by Peter Farrelly, one half of the former Farrelly Brothers directing duo that brought us classics such as “Dumb and Dumber” and “Kingpin,” the movie takes on the world of professional soccer (aka international football), specifically during the World Cup. It also features two big-name actors hamming it up for your viewing pleasure.<\/p>\n
“Balls Up” stars Mark Wahlberg (“The Family Plan”) and Paul Walter Hauser (“Cruella”) in what is described by Amazon as a “raunchy, over-the-top comedy.” And while Farrelly did helm the Best Picture Oscar-winning “Green Book” (one of most shocking Oscars upsets ever<\/a>), this is more in the director’s wheelhouse, traditionally speaking. He’s been making raunchy comedies for 30 years. Why stop now? As for his latest effort, the synopsis for the film reads as follows:<\/p>\n Marketing executives Brad (Mark Wahlberg) and Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser) go “balls out” and pitch a bold full\u2011coverage condom sponsorship with the World Cup. After their drunken celebration in Brazil sparks a global scandal, they must outrun furious fans, criminals, and power-hungry officials to salvage their careers and make it home alive.<\/p>\n Adding even more star power to the mix, this one was scripted by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick of “Deadpool” fame<\/a>. The duo’s other writing credits include the “Zombieland” movies, Michael Bay’s “6 Underground,” and both “Deadpool 2” and “Deadpool &\u00a0Wolverine,” so, again, comedy is at the heart of a lot of what they do. Meanwhile, the movie’s supporting cast includes Benjamin Bratt (“Andor”), Daniela Melchior (“Anaconda”), Molly Shannon (“Divorce”), Sacha Baron Cohen (“Borat”), and Eric Andr\u00e9 (“The Eric Andre Show”).\u00a0<\/p>\n Overall, then, there’s a lot of talent involved here. But what are critics saying?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Ball’s Up might scratch an itch for the right viewer<\/p>\n
Of the five reviews of “Balls Up” posted on Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> at the time of writing, only one is positive. In his one-star review<\/a> for RogerEbert.com,\u00a0Matt Zoller Seitz writes that the film is “as tedious as it sounds, on top of making Brazil seem as dangerous as that area of Mogadishu where the U.S. Marines in ‘Black Hawk Down’ got slaughtered by furious locals.” So, not great.\u00a0<\/p>\n To that same end, the movie’s handful of reviews on Letterboxd<\/a> aren’t exactly flattering, but they are somewhat better. A two-star review, for instance, simply describes the film as “Stupid.” Elsewhere, though, a different and more positive three-star review states, “If you just embrace it for what it is, it has its funny moments” before adding, “It gets the job done.”<\/p>\n For the right viewer, then, this might scratch an itch. It is, after all, a return to comedy for Mark Wahlberg, which he’s done on occasion and done very well at times. His team-up with Will Ferrell in “The Other Guys” is buddy cop comedy at its absolute finest<\/a>, for one. Wahlberg’s also got movies like “Daddy’s Home” and “Ted” to his name. Meanwhile, Paul Walter Hauser is a damn fine character with comedic chops, which he proved yet again in 2025’s “The Naked Gun.” They’re an unlikely duo, which can make for good comedy.<\/p>\n
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