The Foot Fist Way

This film made me laugh a lot which is rare. It's an original (and let's face it that's rare) subject and was made in just 19 days shot in North Carolina. It's low budget and has some endearing characters (some of the kids rock) in it. It also actually shows people how they look in real life e.g. acne on their face which is quite shocking in itself as we usually only see pixel perfect complexions. The characters maybe stereotypical and shallow but who cares when the main aim is for laughs? The main character (according to my girlfriend) is reminiscent of Ricky Gervais in the Office (Brit comedy) but he always remains likable. I hope these actors and directors will make it big one day and you can impress / annoy by saying how you saw them in their early days. If you want some good laughs and an original subject matter then go see this film.

"The Foot Fist Way" is the second Jody Hill movie I've watched. The first was "Observe and Report" with Seth Rogen which was released in 2009. I'm noticing that the Jody Hill formula is to make comedies dressed as dramas, so there will be no audio or visual cues to laugh. The actors' faces, voices, and movements won't cue you that this is a joke, simply the dialog and perhaps the absurdity of the situation. It's a unique style that isn't going to have you rolling on the floor laughing.

In TFFW Danny McBride played Fred Simmons, a Taekwondo instructor in North Carolina. He is a joke of an instructor with a super hot wife and a super hot car. Danny McBride consumes about 80% of the screen time, so the movie truly hinges upon him. His wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) and his idol Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best) have the next greatest share of screen time and it's not that much.

This movie had two very funny scenes which carried it. The rest of the movie kept a steady pace although it didn't register highly on the funny scale.

Surprise hit comedies are generally the ones that feature a relatively under-exposed actor with great comedic talent in a central role. That is what Danny McBride as Fred Simmons is supposed to be. It's not a bad movie, but it scratches the surface of what it could be. It feels like "The Foot Fist Way" is the very long pilot of a TV series that didn't get picked up: like there was something more that needed to happen and characters that needed to be developed.

The film is a small character-driven comedy created by a trio of friends who have been nurtured by the Will Ferrell and Adam McKay screwball character movie teat. Danny McBride, the star, Jody Hill, director and supporting actor and Ben Best, supporting actor, all wrote the story of Simmons, a tae kwan do instructor in Alabama who's full of himself yet humbly insecure.

There's really no plot until halfway through the movie, giving it that episodic "this should be broken up into smaller, fleshed out parts" feel. Supporting characters jump in and out rather than contribute to a flowing narrative. The only thing that stays solid is the rocky relationship subplot between Simmons and his tall-built bimbo wife (a rather untalented Mary Jane Bostic).

Admirably, these three amigos try and create a character for McBride that is both a verbal machine gun of ridiculous phrases and someone who uses that same egotistical technique to work out his emotional problems. In other words, someone who is supposed to be hilarious but self-revealing at the same time -- a complex goofball. Their first trial run is hit or miss on the comedic end and just short on creating a meaningful character. McBride is capable, but they don't really push the concept hard enough.

A glorified TV episode might be all it is, but there's talent in this group of aspiring comedy filmmakers.

I came to this movie with talk of it being hilarious, brilliant and having apparently been the toast of Sundance. I didn't totally believe all the hype, mainly because that's always what the majority of such talk is, but I did have hopes that the film would be good at what it tries to do. Taking its lead from the painfully flawed David Brent in The Office, The Foot Fist Way focuses on taekwondo teacher Fred Simmons as he leads his class to be (perhaps) as good as him, fails to control his cheating wife and idolises taekwondo champion and film star Chuck "the truck" Wallace. In terms of narrative flow there isn't really much that justifies discussion because, rightly, the story is only a frame within which to put the character study of an arrogant man who has zero self-awareness. In this there is a lot of potential and accordingly the best parts of the film are not specific events or plot points but just little moments that remind the viewer what a self-important and embarrassingly pompous man we are watching.

It is not something you'll never have seen before of course and the many other variations will show you how painfully funny (and painfully painful) that this sort of thing can be, whether it is Spinal Tap or David Brent. Problem is with the Foot Fist Way is that it feels like a really good idea that has not been fully carried out. So there are moments which are both painful and funny but then there are also lots of scenes that are just surprisingly straightforward, failing to either be funny or to be insightful in regards the character of Fred. It is a shame but it does mean that the film is distinctly average. Even at a short running time of 83 minutes, the film still struggles and surprised me by feeling much longer – it should have sprinted and been over before you knew what was happening.

No fault to McBride though, he feels natural and is convincing in his character. As one of those involved in the writing he does share some responsibility though because the script just doesn't give him enough to work with often enough. He is the whole film though and when he has the material then it is at its best. Bostic is a good "white-trash" cliché but is surprisingly wooden for the majority. Best's turn is funny and produces some narrative drive but also has the detrimental effect of jostling for time with the comedy character study which I thought the film should have stuck with. The style of delivery could have been different and, although some say it is overused, I think the "making a documentary" approach would have worked in the favour of the material as we have seen countless other times.

I wanted to really like this film because you can see the potential but sadly it is never fully realised. This doesn't make for a terrible film though and it does still have its moments where things work but mostly I felt like it was a big case of "close but no cigar" in regards the script and the delivery. It is OK and perhaps worth a look on television but there are much better versions of the same idea out there, many of which leave this film looking distinctively average.

I like The foot fist way very much. The reason for this is simple; it's very realistic and human-like. Normally all movies are cool slick Hollywood movies. Where everybody is perfect, and the good guy always gets the beautiful girl in the end and every fight scene lasts 20 minutes,....well not in my life.

The main character of The Foot Fist Way is actually very easy to recognize in the first place. Many people ARE like him, and many people probably can identify with the main character. I know I can. Hell, maybe people say I'm a loser for admitting this, but I know my life more resembles 'the foot fist way' than it does 'Casino Royale' or 'Die Hard'.

I practice karate, and although this movie is about Tea Kwon Do (these sports are very similar), I can tell you that the exaggerations are real. And there are people out there that are made off no more than hot air.

Anyway, the 'crappy' filming makes this movie almost a documentary. And the fact that the actors are so simple, and not famous is very refreshing. I like real life, and I like movies that represent real-life. The Hollywood fairy tales are awful, in my opinion. The pace of the movie is good, and I thought is was short....I was really entertained. And real martial arts isn't as spectacular as we get to see in Hollywood movies, its as crappy as presented in this film. (in the sense of 'normal' people that practice martial arts).

In my opinion the producers were successful in creating a funny movie about things in life we all can relate to.