April 20, 2026 · Watch the trailer
Not too long ago, Peter Farrelly’s career was at an all-time high when “Green Book,” the film he directed and co-wrote, won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
That kind of success typically affords a filmmaker carte blanche to shape the rest of their career however they see fit, often allowing for more personal, passion-driven projects rather than a return to safer studio fare.
Farrelly, also known for co-directing classic comedies with his brother Bobby like “There’s Something About Mary” and “Dumb and Dumber,” has instead returned to his mainstream comedic roots, though the choices he has made in doing so are baffling, to say the least.
His latest comedy, the direct-to-Prime Video feature “Balls Up,” is laughable from start to finish, though moviegoers are more likely to gawk at the bizarre downturn of an Academy Award-winning director than laugh at anything the film actually intends as a joke.
Written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, “Balls Up” follows two marketing executives who botch a pitch to make their company the official condom sponsor of the World Cup, only to, through a series of increasingly implausible events, draw the ire of the entire nation of Brazil. What follows is a jungle escapade that quickly devolves into juvenile, sophomoric humor rather than anything resembling inspired comedy.
Mark Wahlberg plays Brad, a sales executive with an antagonistic smarm that lightly evokes his work in better comedies like “Ted” and “The Other Guys.” Here, though, that smarm rarely comes with the requisite heart that typically counterbalances Wahlberg’s more egotistical characters, leaving Brad as an entirely stilted, one-dimensional meme of a character.
Conversely, Paul Walter Hauser’s Elijah is afforded some semblance of development as a stuffy, altruistic scientist thrust into a fish-out-of-water narrative that skirts the edge of cliché without fully toppling into it.
Hauser is far more adept at finding nuance physically, both through facial expression and movement, though there’s little in the screenplay to allow him to generate meaningful comedy. His performance carries clear shades of Chris Farley, particularly the naive charm of “Tommy Boy,” but “Balls Up” is hardly a film worthy of that comparison.
The largely unmemorable supporting cast is most notable for how it leans into and amplifies ethnic stereotypes. Benjamin Bratt fully commits to the bit as an executive relapsing on his sobriety to an absurd degree, while Sacha Baron Cohen dominates scenes with an outlandish accent as a drug kingpin Brad and Elijah encounter on their journey.
There isn’t much in the visual direction of “Balls Up” that actively drags it down, but there’s just as little that elevates it beyond its streaming origins. From a technical standpoint, the film’s shortcomings stem almost entirely from its screenplay, which operates under the assumption that there are real jokes to be found where there simply aren’t any.
The film leans heavily on dated, sophomoric humor that would have struggled to land even two decades ago. Instead of building comedic momentum or character-driven payoff, “Balls Up” relies on crude, often lazy gags rooted in outdated homophobic and racial stereotypes, mistaking provocation for humor.
The result is a film that lacks both originality and intent, frequently feeling less like the work of seasoned screenwriters and more like something cobbled together without a clear comedic voice. What should feel irreverent instead comes across as uninspired, leaving the film stuck in a cycle of jokes that never quite materialize.
Films produced specifically for streaming don’t inherently suffer from a lack of quality. In fact, platforms like Netflix have, over time, established a relatively consistent baseline in both narrative structure and production value, making a concerted effort to offer films that can appeal to cinephiles across a range of tastes.
Amazon, however, continues to feel far less discerning in its approach, often appearing to throw money at projects without a clear sense of creative direction. “Balls Up” is yet another example of a film that feels fundamentally misaligned with any kind of theatrical ambition, instead landing squarely as disposable streaming content.
It plays less like a fully realized feature and more like something designed to be passively consumed, the kind of film casual viewers might put on out of convenience before inevitably deciding it isn’t worth their time.
“Balls Up” stands as a baffling low point in Farrelly’s career, trading the balance of irreverence and heart that once defined his work for a hollow barrage of jokes that never land. There’s no sense of narrative flow or character development, no justification for its excess, and no evidence of the filmmaker who once understood how to ground even the most absurd premises. It’s not just forgettable; it’s difficult to understand why it exists at all.
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