It takes a lot of balls to make an entire comedy about condoms designed to win the World Cup. My issue is not that the film is in poor taste — the whole story is weird and just not funny.
The Story
In the story, Mark Wahlburg plays Brad, the guy who can sell anything. Paul Walter Hauser is Elijah, the overweight nerdy engineer who has designed an innovative condom that covers not just the shaft, but the testicles. The running joke is, why hasn’t anyone thought of this before, and where is the best place to promote such a novelty? Well of course, a sport with round balls, ruling out the Super Bowl, but falling naturally to the 2025 World Cup in Brazil.
The company sends the pair to Brazil, where they win over Brazil’s sports minister but then lose the sponsorship deal when he gets coked up. They also lose their jobs, but 3 months later, they are accidentally still on the mailing list for tickets to the WC Final between Brazil vs Argentina.
They travel to the Final, but Elijah drunkenly storms the pitch in the final seconds of the game, and when Brad tries to stop him, his head blocks Brazil’s tying shot. Argentina wins, which makes the pair a target of every fan in Brazil.
The rest of the film consists of Brad and Elijah trying to get out of the country and return home.
In Conclusion
I made the premise of this film sound a lot more promising than it was. And of course, you expect a lot more from the director of Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary. But the fact that the film started production in 2024 and just got released indicates the studio knew there were problems.
There are interesting performances by Sacha Baron Cohen as the druglord and Molly Shannon as the foul-mouthed CEO of the condom company. Benjamin Bratt I just feel sorry for, as the coked up Brazilian executive. I feel sorry for the actors pretending to swallow coke-filled condoms. And you have to feel sorry for the coked up and cooked up caiman as well. Just reviewing this film makes me feel sorry for wasting even more time on this disturbance in the Force.
Maybe Balls Up indicates the kind of 💩 💩 that will be generated by Producer David Ellison in his position at the top of Paramount and MGM and soon, Warner Bros. A seasoned veteran, 43 year old David Ellison is the son of Larry, who is aiming to be the next Rupert Murdoch. When they aren’t destroying democracy, they will be demolishing the film industry as well.
There is almost no soccer in this film.
3 Soccer Movie Mom Rating = 3
Resources:
- Released: 2026-04-15 (Amazon)
- IMDB
- WIKI
- I watched this on Amazon Prime
- 1 hr 44 mins
- Director: Pete Farrelly
- Stars: Mark Wahlburg , Paul Walter Hauser
- Watch the Trailer
