Ping Pong Playa
Encyclopedia
Ping Pong Playa is a 2007 comedy film directed by Jessica Yu
and written by Jessica Yu
and Jimmy Tsai
. The story centers on an Asian ping pong family with a buffoonish and irreverent son.
.
Michael becomes distracted while picking his mother up from ping pong class, seeing C-Dub play on a minibike
with JP, and rear-ends a truck in the parking lot. While neither are fatally wounded, they both sprain their wrists, forcing them to temporarily leave their occupations to recover. C-Dub is thrust into becoming a substitute teacher
for his mother against his will, finding a class full of dysfunctional children: an obese boy with compulsive eating habits, a talented but socially awkward Indian boy whose father operates a textile
mill, and an earlier acquaintance from the basketball court, among others. Initially he dismisses them, ignoring his duties and instead pursuing new interest in one of the boys' beautiful older sister, who rejects him for his snarky personality, competing with a rival ping pong teacher for her attention. When his younger friend offers him bribes to play ping pong with them, C-Dub takes advantage of them as a money-making opportunity, much to the disgust of the children's parents.
Word of this arrives to C-Dub's parents, who become furious with him. His mother eventually convinces him to return the money to the kids, and soon after he begins to genuinely bond with them. When the rival teacher begins to pass around flyers to lure the children away from his class, C-Dub begins to take ping pong much more seriously, eventually entering in National Golden Cock tournament in his brother's place to compete with him. However, he begins to conflict with his father, who is disgusted by his attitude towards ping pong and takes him up as an apprentice. He explains that the British believe that they invented ping pong as a variation of tennis
and consider the Chinese inferior to them and that C-Dub's victory in the tournament would not only defend their belief and earn him prize money, but would boost his family's reputation, sparking interest in their store and their ping pong class.
C-Dub is initially cocky when he enters the tournament, sponsored by the company Killerspin
, but panics when he loses his first match. His father confronts him, reminding him that his whole childhood he had been avoiding anything that risked failure, including ping pong, and that this is his chance to face his fears and overcome them. Motivated by this and support from his friends and family, including an initially mocking JP, C-Dub perseveres, taking his game much more seriously, and reaches the final confrontation with the rival teacher. After a heated battle, C-Dub eventually prevails, much to the Chinese families' delight.
Several months later, C-Dub's father's vision has come true: the family's business has become profitable and Mrs. Wang's ping pong class is overflowing with new students. Other characters in the story have happy endings as well: the obese kid has lost weight and dropped his eating habits, the Indian boy has become successful with a line of shoes he designed in a partnership with JP, making him a successful businessman, and C-Dub himself becomes the guest of honor in the city parade.
Jessica Yu
Jessica Lingman Yu is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. She has worked on documentaries, dramatic films, and television shows. Yu won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien .-Early life:Yu graduated from Gunn...
and written by Jessica Yu
Jessica Yu
Jessica Lingman Yu is an American film director, writer, producer, and editor. She has worked on documentaries, dramatic films, and television shows. Yu won an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject for Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien .-Early life:Yu graduated from Gunn...
and Jimmy Tsai
Jimmy Tsai
Jimmy Tsai is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, and editor.Though technically a production accountant, Jimmy Tsai has been creating projects since his early teens, when the order of the day included everything from crime movie spoofs to commercials for the high school swim team...
. The story centers on an Asian ping pong family with a buffoonish and irreverent son.
Plot
The story focuses on Christoper "C-Dub" Wang , a tough-talking Chinese-American teenager living at his parents' house with no responsibilities, running one dead-end job after another. He continuously picks fights with Caucasians for what he considers offensive remarks about Chinese people, and plots get-rich-quick schemes with his friend JP Money. His brother Michael is a successful doctor and ping pong champion, and his parents work in a ping pong shop and teach ping pong lessons at the local Chinese community center. C-Dub, however, rejects his family tradition as "uncool" and strives to play in the NBANational Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
.
Michael becomes distracted while picking his mother up from ping pong class, seeing C-Dub play on a minibike
Minibike
A minibike, sometimes called a mini moto or pocketbike, is a miniature motorcycle. Most minibikes use two-stroke engines and chain drive.- History :...
with JP, and rear-ends a truck in the parking lot. While neither are fatally wounded, they both sprain their wrists, forcing them to temporarily leave their occupations to recover. C-Dub is thrust into becoming a substitute teacher
Substitute teacher
A substitute teacher is a person who teaches a school class when the regular teacher is unavailable; e.g., because of illness, personal leave, or other reasons. "Substitute teacher" is the most commonly used phrase in the United States, Canada and Ireland, while supply teacher is the most commonly...
for his mother against his will, finding a class full of dysfunctional children: an obese boy with compulsive eating habits, a talented but socially awkward Indian boy whose father operates a textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
mill, and an earlier acquaintance from the basketball court, among others. Initially he dismisses them, ignoring his duties and instead pursuing new interest in one of the boys' beautiful older sister, who rejects him for his snarky personality, competing with a rival ping pong teacher for her attention. When his younger friend offers him bribes to play ping pong with them, C-Dub takes advantage of them as a money-making opportunity, much to the disgust of the children's parents.
Word of this arrives to C-Dub's parents, who become furious with him. His mother eventually convinces him to return the money to the kids, and soon after he begins to genuinely bond with them. When the rival teacher begins to pass around flyers to lure the children away from his class, C-Dub begins to take ping pong much more seriously, eventually entering in National Golden Cock tournament in his brother's place to compete with him. However, he begins to conflict with his father, who is disgusted by his attitude towards ping pong and takes him up as an apprentice. He explains that the British believe that they invented ping pong as a variation of tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
and consider the Chinese inferior to them and that C-Dub's victory in the tournament would not only defend their belief and earn him prize money, but would boost his family's reputation, sparking interest in their store and their ping pong class.
C-Dub is initially cocky when he enters the tournament, sponsored by the company Killerspin
Killerspin
Killerspin is a table tennis equipment, accessories, and clothing brand that also sponsors and hosts competitions, as well as table tennis related special events...
, but panics when he loses his first match. His father confronts him, reminding him that his whole childhood he had been avoiding anything that risked failure, including ping pong, and that this is his chance to face his fears and overcome them. Motivated by this and support from his friends and family, including an initially mocking JP, C-Dub perseveres, taking his game much more seriously, and reaches the final confrontation with the rival teacher. After a heated battle, C-Dub eventually prevails, much to the Chinese families' delight.
Several months later, C-Dub's father's vision has come true: the family's business has become profitable and Mrs. Wang's ping pong class is overflowing with new students. Other characters in the story have happy endings as well: the obese kid has lost weight and dropped his eating habits, the Indian boy has become successful with a line of shoes he designed in a partnership with JP, making him a successful businessman, and C-Dub himself becomes the guest of honor in the city parade.
Cast
- Jimmy TsaiJimmy TsaiJimmy Tsai is an American film director, writer, producer, actor, and editor.Though technically a production accountant, Jimmy Tsai has been creating projects since his early teens, when the order of the day included everything from crime movie spoofs to commercials for the high school swim team...
as Christopher "C-Dub" Wang - Andrew Vo as Felix
- Khary PaytonKhary PaytonKhary Payton is an American actor and voice actor known for his voice characterizations in animated cartoons, having portrayed Cyborg in the Teen Titans animated series and Aqualad in Young Justice. In the cartoon series Justice League, Payton provided the voice of the villain Ten...
as JP Money - Jim Lau as Mr. Wang
- Roger FanRoger FanRoger Fan is an American actor of film, theatre and episodic television best known for his collaborations with Justin Lin and his appearances in the films Annapolis and Better Luck Tomorrow....
as Michael Wang - Elizabeth SungElizabeth SungElizabeth Fong Sung is an Asian American actress and film director.From 1994-96, she appeared on the American soap opera The Young and the Restless as Luan Volien....
as Mrs. Wang - Javin Reid as Prabakar
- Kevin Chung as William Lin
- Peter PaigePeter PaigePeter Paige is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. His debut as director and writer was on the film Say Uncle.-Biography:Paige was born in West Hartford, Connecticut...
as Gerald Harcourt - Smith ChoSmith ChoSmith Cho is an American actress of Korean descent. She has appeared in movies, on television and in commercials.-Career:Cho has appeared in such movies as Bad Boys II, Norbit, Pie in the Sky, Fired Up, and Blades of Glory, and had a lead role in Ping Pong Playa...
as Jennifer - Scott LowellScott LowellScott Lowell is an American actor best known for his role as Theodore 'Ted' Schmidt on the Showtime drama Queer as Folk.-Biography:...
as Tom - Stephnie WeirStephnie WeirStephnie Carmel Weir is an American actress and comedian, best known for her membership in the recurring cast on MADtv.-Early life:...
as Cheryl Davis - Sir Jonathan OliverJonathan OliverJonathan Oliver is a British stage and television actor.-Biography:Trained at Manchester University, Oliver has numerous stage credits, including Shakespeare's Globe and the Royal National Theatre...
as Jon Howard - Shelley MalilShelley MalilOn August 11, 2008, Malil was arrested for attempted murder after he stabbed his ex-girlfriend, Kendra Beebe, 20 times the previous night in San Marcos, California. Beebe, a mother of two, resides in Carlsbad, California...
as DB Reddy - Martin Chow as Jerry Lin