The Farrelly Brothers used to be a dominating force in comedy. When they had a new film out, their name attached used to bring the rare clout of a director, because they had so expertly set the tone for what to expect. They started with Dumb and Dumber, which became an instant comedy classic, and then transitioned to Kingpin, which while not as big of a hit still has fans, and then There’s something About Mary, an obvious classic and vehicle for Cameron Diaz and Ben stiller. They moved into the new millennium with mixed results, films like Me Myself and Irene, Shallow Hal, and Stuck On you gave them more mixed results. Now, Peter and Bobby direct separately, which led to Peter Farrelly directing the Oscar winning Green Book, and Bobby helming the underrated champions. After diving into more serious fare, Peter is back in the comedy game with balls Up, which feels like the good old days of Farrelly Brothers nonsense.

The plot is stupid, then again, so are the plots of most Farrelly brothers films. Balls Up focuses on Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser), the more mild mannered, less charismatic designer of a new condom that protects not just the penis, but also the balls. Hence, the title. His company (led by Molly Shannon) is hoping to pitch FIFA for an upcoming World Cup endorsement, becoming the condom of the games. But, Elijah is not a public speaker, so he’s forced to work with the more extraverted Brad (Mark Wahlberg), who is in the mood to party, but lacks a lot of the general common sense Elijah seems to have a glimmer of at the onset. These two make fools of themselves down in Brazil, and lose the bid, and their jobs. Still, they believe in the condom, making a return to the country to try and fix what they broke, only to make things worse.

Then the rest of the film is a ton of nonsensical situational comedy, where Elijah and brad bounce from over the top situation to over the top situation, each one more audacious than before, and triggering a host of comedic supporting talent from Eric Andre to Sasha Baron cohen. Over the past year, Amazon’s straight to Prime titles have struggled the more serious they seem to take themselves, and the more a film seems to embrace its idiocy, it seems to be somehow more successful at it. Case in point, wahlberg’s last collaboration at amazon, Play dirty should have worked. A decent ensemble, directed by Shane Black, based on a popular series of books. It did not work. But, Play Date? Oddly, yes. The Alan Ritchson/kevin James action comedy panned by most critics worked because it understood its own absurdity and leaned into it. that’s what the Farrelly Brothers used to be good at, and why Peter succeeds at all here.

This is not a new classic, or something to remember at the end of the year. it is much more of a Stuck On You or The Heartbreak Kid than a Dumb and Dumber, but it does show some possibility of where the Farrelly’s could go, if Bobby could stop making terrible films like Dear Santa, and get back in the game.

Paul Walter Hauser, who is likely an eventual Oscar nominee, and has done comedy before, both in The After Party and in last year’s The Naked Gun reboot. He’s shockingly adept in this genre, even if for anyone who has seen Blackbird, he’s a far more accomplished actor. Meanwhile, Wahlberg wins for being willing to be self deprecating, and making fun of his own image. Instead of playing the super cool guy who always knows what to say, Brad is confident but awkward, bold yet dense. Wahlberg hasn’t been well served by streaming services, with a stream of underwhelming films, but also theatrically has said Yes to hot garbage like Flight Risk and Father Stu, oddly both pairing him with Mel Gibson (who he worked with in Daddy’s Home 2).

But, the film is rude, crude, and pretty dumb. the thing that keeps this out of the rotten territory, is that it never pretends to not be those things, and often rude, crude, and dumb is how the Farrelly’s got their success to begin with. it’s a movie about a condom that protects your balls. It isn’t a winning concept, but it sparks an idiotic series of mishaps that Bing Crosby and bob Hope are likely really happy none of their Road To films ever attempted. Comedy is subjective often anyway, and what makes one person laugh, makes another roll their eyes. Within this film, I did both. it had both eye rolls and giggles.

Mostly, this film works at least on some base level thanks to the talent involved, and a basic understanding of how to embrace a dumb concept, for some even dumber laughs. There’s something about Balls Up.

Fresh: 6.2/10