Ping Pong
Playa is a 2008 film directed by Jessica Yu and
written by Jessica Yu and Jimmy Tsai. It's a
comedy about an Asian ping pong family with a
buffoonish and irreverent son.
Christopher "C-dub" Wang is a suburban guy who
sports an urban swagger, waxes political on all
things Asian American, and clings to pipe dreams
of a career as a pro basketball player. Blaming
genetics for his failure to make the NBA, C-dub
lives at home, works a dead-end job, and squirms
in the shadow of his older brother, Michael, a
doctor and ping pong champion.
With a family-run store devoted to all things
ping pong and a mom who teaches it at the local
Chinese Community Center, the Wangs' entire
world revolves around the sport. But despite the
family legacy, C-dub opts to spend his free time
playing video games and daydreaming about
get-rich quick schemes with his best friend JP
Money.
C-dub is kicked back into reality when his mom
and Michael are hurt in a car accident, leaving
his father to watch over the store and forcing
C-dub to take over his mom's ping pong class of
misfits. C-dub starts to appreciate the benefits
of ping pong when he starts using the class to
make some extra money on the side and
befriending one of the kids who happens to have
a beautiful older sister. But when the Wang
family livelihood is threatened by a rival ping
pong player's attempts to lure the kids away,
C-dub begins to take things more seriously. With
the National Golden Cock Tournament coming up
and an injured Michael unable to defend his
title, C-dub must become the player he pretends
to be and defend his family's ping pong dynasty.
