Ping Pong Playa.

"After a string of documentaries, including In the Realms of the Unreal, and an Academy Award win for Best Documentary Short, Jessica Yu makes an unlikely, deceptively slight narrative feature debut with Ping Pong Playa," writes Leo Goldsmith at indieWIRE. "What's perhaps most surprising about the film, however, is that Yu (who has also directed a fair amount of television drama) is actually quite adept as a comedy director."

"Ping Pong Playa proves that Chinese-Americans are not immune from the national stunted-adolescence crisis currently plaguing white comedy protagonists," writes Nick Schager in Slant. "Yu's film, a 180-degree tonal shift from her previous Protagonist, diligently retreads Adam SandlerNapoleon Dynamite territory."

Updated through 9/5.

"[I]t's not half-bad," finds Ella Taylor in the Voice. "Frantically paced, littered with cute kids, and overstuffed with split screens and a rap score, Ping Pong Playa angles a little too hard for tween attention, but there's no resisting the movie's antic affability or its irreverence, even with Chris's [Jimmy Tsai] unavoidable progression toward the mature appreciation of his roots."

"By this point, we've seen so many movies about the underdog, the Big Game and the rescue of the family honor, that it's almost impossible to tell that kind of story with a straight face," writes Alonso Duralde for MSNBC. "Which is what makes Ping Pong Playa such a surprising treat - this low-budget comedy keeps its tongue in cheek while simultaneously making us actually care about who wins the tournament."

"Its mobile-phone-market visual and narrative aspirations aside, Ping Pong Playa's most compelling aspect is director-coscreenwriter Jessica Yu's versatility," writes Mark Holcomb in Time Out New York. "Though she's best known for a contemplative 2004 doc portrait of artist Henry Darger, Yu's interest here is adamantly in the realms of the disposably frivolous."

Cheryl Eddy talks with Yu for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Michael Ordoña talks with Tsai for the Los Angeles Times.

Updates, 9/5: "Ping Pong Playa is a bright, nimble diversion, a quick-witted picture that's fast on its feet," writes Nathan Lee in the New York Times.

"The primary difference between Ping Pong Playa and, say, Step Brothers, is that Ms Yu's film tries sincerely for family-comedy status, or maybe TV rebroadcast, with its look and feel," writes Nicolas Rapold in the New York Sun. "If its brand of amiable ethnic humor hits the spot, then 96 minutes of the routine should be a breeze."

"[A]side from the casting and the location shooting, there's not much to distinguish Ping Pong Playa from Ladybugs or The Mighty Ducks," writes Noel Murray at the AV Club "It looks cheaper, and its script isn't as tightly constructed, but otherwise, it's thoroughly average."

IndieWIRE interviews Yu.

Posted by dwhudson at September 4, 2008 6:52 AM