In his review of Balls of Fury, Roger Ebert writes:
Ping-Pong* is to tennis as foosball is to soccer. I know it’s on cable now, with lots of controversy over slower balls and faster paddles, but it retains for me only memories of rainy days at summer camp. I have never lost all affection for the sport, however, and am careful to play it at least once every decade.
Ping-Pong is on cable now? And it’s controversial? Really?
A.O. Scott of The New York Times, meanwhile, calls the film “must viewing for Christopher Walken completists who have mislaid their pecial collector’s edition DVD of ‘The Country Bears.'” High praise indeed.