Balls Up Review — Wahlberg and Hauser Can’t Save Peter Farrelly’s Limp Comedy Lacking Cojones

While watching Prime Video’s Balls Up, I kept thinking of what Lorne Michaels is famous for saying: “Funny isn’t funny, ”comedy evolves. The new film, starring Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser, comes from Peter Farrelly, the former comedic genius who, along with his brother Bobby Farrelly, brought us There’s Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber, and Kingpin.

Which brings me to my point: together, the Farrelly brothers were an unstoppable comedic force. Since going their separate ways, their films no longer push the envelope, lacking the guts that once made their work feel great, audacious, and truly original. Peter Farrelly latest streaming feature has lost the cojones that made his film tentpole events.

What is Prime Video’s Balls Up about?

Balls Up is another nail in the coffin, the clearest sign yet that the once-defining Farrelly comedy is now limping to the finish.

The story follows Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser), an idea man at Regal Blue, a prophylactic company trying to reinvent the industry. That’s where Elijah comes in. He has an idea for a condom that not only covers the, ugh, meat, but the potatoes as well. During a presentation, Elijah falls flat on his face, sweating through his suit and stumbling over his words.

His boss, Burgess (Molly Shannon), pairs him with super-salesman Brad (Mark Wahlberg), who could sell condoms in bulk to a convent if he tried. In order to become the official condom of the World Cup, which is known for selling more “protective raincoats” each year than anywhere else, they must impress Senhor Santos (Benjamin Bratt), who’s in charge of the decision.

Prime Video’s Balls Up Review

Brad knocks the presentation out of the park, rebranding the product as “Balls Up,” which sends the boardroom into a frenzy of laughter. Frankly, in a comedy like this, you’d expect Wahlberg’s Brad to have the charisma of Alec Baldwin’s Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross or Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street. Instead, Wahlberg delivers a poor Vince Vaughn impression.

They land the account, until Brad derails it by pressuring Santos, who is nine years sober, to sniff a shot of alcohol. Of course, after catching a whiff of the good stuff, Santos spirals, sending the two on a bender that costs him his job. Brad and Elijah lose the account, the company folds, and they’re both out of work. Still, Senhor Santos makes good on a promise to send them to the World Cup.

And that’s where the movie doesn’t so much fall apart as it gets stuck in the mud of uninspired, frat-boy humor that goes nowhere. A situation escalates in which Elijah ruins Brazil’s World Cup win, sparking a buddy comedy where, unfortunately, Wahlberg and Hauser, both with proven comedic pedigress, have little to no chemistry.

Is Prime Video’s Balls Up worth watching?

Yet, I’ll admit, I laughed a few times in the opening minutes. No one sells an outlandish yet subtle comedic line quite like Hauser (when asked what he’s drinking, he replies, “An Abigail Breslin. It’s like a Shirley Temple, but with double the grenadine.”). And Wahlberg has natural charasmaic, boyish comedic energy.

However, the script from Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, known for sharp, action-comedy hits like Deadpool & Wolverine and Zombieland: Double Tap, seems to have lost any sense of comic timing or basic joke structure. Each set up doesn’t try to top eachother to build laughs, but contrives situations that are irreverant, and frankly boring, with little to no pay off.

This is what preciesly what makes Balls Up ismply not worth wtaching. . The film can’t even lean on the natural comedic chemistry of its cast. Simply put, not only does the comedy fail to rise to the occasion, but it also seems that comedy has passed Peter Farrelly by.

You can stream Balls Up exclusively on Prime Video starting on April 15th!