‘Balls Up’ Review: Mark Wahlberg Leads a Wild, Uneven World Cup Comedy

Going from winning an Oscar with Green Book to making a comedy about condoms that cover the testicles might seem like a huge leap—but not for Peter Farrelly, who has actually spent far more of his career in this brand of humor than in that period racial drama. Still, what once carried a certain spark—thanks in part to the collaboration with his brother Bobby, in films like There’s Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber—has now devolved into something that feels like a mix of nostalgia and mild vulgarity, an absurd comedy with very little to hold onto.

For Latin American audiences, however, Balls Up has a built-in point of interest. The film’s chaotic narrative revolves around the events before, during, and after a fictional World Cup final in Brazil 2025, played between the host nation and Argentina—a match that entangles its antiheroes in ways that are at once improbable, ridiculous, and, for some, borderline tragic.

The plot makes little sense, but here’s the gist. Brad (Mark Wahlberg) and Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser) work for a company that manufactures condoms and are trying to secure the contract to become the tournament’s official brand. The overeager Elijah has designed a model that also covers the testicles, which everyone assumes will be a hit. Brad, more confident and better suited for sales, is in charge of pitching it. But just when they seem poised to land the deal, a string of nighttime misadventures involving a powerful Brazilian official (Benjamin Bratt) costs them the contract. The company collapses—and they’re left jobless.

Soon after, they remember an invitation they had completely forgotten: a trip to attend the World Cup final with premium seats. Once there, and true to form, their incompetence lands them in even bigger trouble—this time directly affecting the outcome of the match and the tournament itself, in a way that is, let’s say, not favorable to the hosts. From that point on, the mismatched duo stumbles from one dangerous situation to another, pursued by angry fans, murderous police officers, drug traffickers, environmental activists, and rival gangs.

All of this serves as little more than a loose framework for a string of visual and verbal gags centered largely on condoms, sexual positions, drug smuggling (inside those condoms), and a series of increasingly convoluted situations involving a drug lord (Sacha Baron Cohen, in a fairly amusing turn) and his partner, Argentine actress Eva De Dominici. None of it makes much sense, and the humor only lands sporadically—an occasional line or odd situation that works before quickly fading. By the halfway point, the film has little left to extract from its already thin premise.

Argentine and Brazilian viewers may find some added appeal in Balls Up, given its setting, its focus on a World Cup final, and its emphasis on the football rivalry between the two countries—Argentina even plays a key role in the plot. But beyond those specific references, nitpicking its inaccuracies (an Argentine actress playing Brazilian, a Portuguese actress playing Argentine, and so on) or its cultural details feels beside the point. Ultimately, this is a very minor piece of entertainment, one that never comes close to matching the inspired lunacy of the Farrelly brothers at their peak. Whatever the pulse of contemporary comedy is, it’s clearly not here.