Peter Farrelly Returns to R-Rated Comedy with ‘Balls Up’: A Director’s Unplanned Journey Back to Silly Films

Peter Farrelly has never been one for long-term career planning. The director, whose filmography includes the iconic comedies ‘Dumb and Dumber’ and ‘There’s Something About Mary’—both co-directed with his brother Bobby—earned a Best Picture Oscar for the more serious ‘Green Book’, a true-story drama. Yet Farrelly insists his career trajectory has always been guided by chance rather than strategy.

Now, he’s returned to the world of raunchy, boundary-pushing comedies with ‘Balls Up’, a hard-R film now streaming on Prime Video. Farrelly dismisses the idea that his shift back to this style was deliberate. “I do what the universe brings me, honestly, and the universe brought this,” he said. “[Skydance’s] Don Granger sent me this script. He goes, ‘What do you think of this? It’s way out there.’ And I was, like, ‘It’s hilarious. I love this.’”

The script came from writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, known for ‘Zombieland’ and ‘Deadpool’. “They’re just good writers,” Farrelly added. “So it was no more. I didn’t plan to go, ‘I have to go do a hard-R movie,’ but when I saw it, I knew I have to go do a hard-R movie.”

‘Balls Up’: A Wild Ride of Condoms, Crime, and Chaos

‘Balls Up’ follows two condom salesmen—Brad (Mark Wahlberg) and Elijah (Paul Walter Hauser)—who invent a revolutionary condom design that covers the entire genital area. Their invention sets off a chain of absurd events, including:

• A connection to the Brazilian World Cup
• A charismatic drug lord played by Sacha Baron Cohen
• A group of militant environmentalists
• A road trip element, a hallmark of Farrelly’s films

Farrelly acknowledged that many of his movies feature road trips. “I guess I like the road,” he said. “I’ve driven cross country 23 times, 16 of those times were alone. I always tell people, if you’re ever lost, confused, not sure what to do next in your life, get in the car and drive across country alone.” (He noted that traveling with someone else means “you won’t get anything done.”)

“It’s like you get into a state of transcendental meditation. You see the big picture. You get clarity.” — Peter Farrelly

Farrelly doesn’t plan his road trips either. He carries a notepad to jot down mental clutter—“Like, I haven’t talked to my sister in three weeks? Did I ever send a wedding gift?”—trusting that clarity will emerge by the time he reaches his destination. “It usually takes two to three days and then one day, everything is clear,” he explained. “I’m driving along and suddenly I can see exactly what I should do next, exactly what my issues are.”

Sometimes, those road trips even spark ideas for future projects. Farrelly’s unstructured approach to life and filmmaking, it seems, is as much a part of his creative process as the movies themselves.