Balls Up

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Product inventor Elijah DeBell reveals his newly developed condom to company executives, the 'The Testicle Sentinel' a condom that goes over the balls. Salesman Brad Lewison and Elijah, who do not respect one another, are tasked with pitching this new product to Brazil's Travel Ministry, to become the official condom of the World Cup. They wow executive Senhor Santos, and go out to celebrate. Santos, who is sober and going through Alcoholics Anonymous, is pressured by Brad to partake in a celebratory drink, and soon loses control and in a recorded public display of nudity, causing Santos to lose his position and in turn The Testicle Sentinel is passed over for a rival product.

Back in the USA, Brad and Elijah are both terminated from the company and blame each other. After a long period of time unemployed, both receive a package with all expenses paid trip back to Brazil to attend the World Cup, as these were never cancelled due to administrative error. Reluctantly reuniting, they both take the trip as an opportunity for a holiday. While drunk at the World Cup final, Elijah becomes upset at seeing the rival condom sponsor ads, and convinced that a mascot is taunting him, invades the pitch in the final seconds of the game to fight, and as Brad chases after him to stop him he blocks a goal from Brazilian striker with his head, preventing Brazil from winning the match.

Elijah and Brad are held in jail, and it's clear that interfering with the game puts their life at risk as Brazil takes the game extremely seriously while the two continue to fail to recognise or respect the culture around the sport. Antonia is appointed public counsel to represent them, but due to her inexperience Elijah and Brad reject her as their lawyer. They are invited to speak to the Brazilian Defence Minister Cristos, who lets them leave jail without conviction and return to USA, but it becomes apparent that they are infamous in Brazil and would not be able to survive in public. Chased through the streets by a mob, they are rescued briefly by Senhor Santos, but ultimately are re-captured, this time by Brazilian cartel.

They awake in a lavish drug cartel compound led by the eccentric Pavio Curto Bundchen. While Pavio doesn't appear to care about the men's interruption of the sport (he won money in a bet against Brazil), he plans to hold the men indefinitely. As a way to survive, Brad and Elijah pitch The Testicle Sentinel to the cartel leader, who sees the potential to use the larger capacity condom to increase the amount his drug mules can transport. To prove the condom's effectiveness, Brad and Elijah are both forced to swallow a condom full of drugs each, and Pavio is happy to confirm a business partnership. At a party that evening, a rival cartel attacks the compound, Pavio is killed, and Brad and Elijah escape into the jungle in a truck full of drugs driven by the cartel, with cocaine powder filling the air from the gunshots.

After the truck is overturned, Brad and Elijah escape into the jungle, and keep some of the cocaine to use. They encounter a large caiman, which swallows a condom of cocaine and dies, so they cook and eat some of the flesh. On their travels, they encounter a group of environmentalist eco warriors living in a camp in the jungle. Media has reached this group about Brad and Elijah's interruption of the World Cup, and the eco warriors have interpreted this action as anti-government activism, so are happy to host Brad and Elijah, including visiting their religious leader, partying, sharing drugs and romancing camp members. When hidden camera footage emerges of Brad and Elijah eating the caiman, a well known animal to the group, the men must escape again, commandeering a boat onto the Amazon river.

While temporarily safe, at night the men survive an attack from candiru fish swimming up Brad's urine stream. In the morning, their boat is intercepted by a military gunboat, commanded by the Defence Minister, Cristos. The men still do not respect the significance of football in Brazil, and are left to die by Cristos by the waterfall at the Iguazu Falls. Surviving the fall, the men come ashore to a large force with guns. Believing this to be Brazilian forces and that they were about to die, Antonia emerges, revealing she was not actually a lawyer but a spy for Argentinian government, and that they had been following the men for some time, including that they were the ones attacking the drug cartel's compound which was a rescue attempt. Brad and Elijah are considered heroes in Argentina for their pitch invasion at the World Cup final. After being brought into Argentina, they are able to pitch The Testicle Sentinel once again, and their business becomes a success. Brad and Elijah have overcome their differences and become friends and partners.

• Mark Wahlberg as Brad Lewison
• Paul Walter Hauser as Elijah DeBell
• Sacha Baron Cohen as Pavio Curto Bundchen
• Benjamin Bratt as Senhor Santos
• Luciano Szafir as Cristos
• Eva De Dominici as Emilia
• Daniela Melchior as Antonia / Isadora Costa
• Molly Shannon as Burgess
• Eric André as Eco Warrior Aaron
• Chelsey Crisp as Eco Warrior Julie

In June 2024, it was announced that Mark Wahlberg and Paul Walter Hauser were cast in the film, with Peter Farrelly directing from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick.^[2] In July 2024, Molly Shannon, Eva De Dominici, and Benjamin Bratt joined the film.^[3][4][5] In August, Daniela Melchior and Eric André joined the cast.^[6] In September, Chelsey Crisp joined the cast.^[7]

Filming

Principal photography began in mid-July 2024 at Village Roadshow Studios in Queensland.^[8] Some filming took place in places around Brisbane, Queensland, particularly in front of the Town Hall.

The film was released worldwide on Prime Video on April 15, 2026.^[9]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 24% of 42 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Balls Up, thumbs down."^[10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 34 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.

M.N. Miller of FandomWire wrote that Balls Up "suggests comedy has passed Peter Farrelly by."^[11]