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Movies / On DVD / The Foot Fist Way
The Foot Fist Way

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The Foot Fist Way (2008)

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Reviews Counted: 80

Fresh: 44

Rotten:36

Average Rating: 5.5/10

Consensus: The rough edges and biting humor of this martial arts comedy will keep audiences laughing and cringing in turns.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong language and some sexual content.

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Karate

Theatrical Release:May 30, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $184,510

Synopsis: The literal translation of "Tae Kwan Do," THE FOOT FIST WAY is a hilarious look at a suburban North Carolina strip mall martial arts school run by a bullying egotist (Danny McBride). Shot on the... The literal translation of "Tae Kwan Do," THE FOOT FIST WAY is a hilarious look at a suburban North Carolina strip mall martial arts school run by a bullying egotist (Danny McBride). Shot on the cheap (in just 19 days), the film uses its shortcomings to its advantage, keeping the action low, the kicks flying, the wood splintering, and getting all the minutiae of after-school karate class just right. Co-screenwriter/star McBride brings realistic gym coach qualities galore to his character, Mr. Simmons; the deadpan documentary tone is spot-on and there's a sense these students are actually learning this art as the movie goes on. McBride's writing partners play other Tae Kwan Do professionals: Ben Best is fun as the debauched action movie star rival, Chuck the Trucki; co-writer/director Jody Hill shows up in a hilarious bit as Simmons's mystical fifth-level blackbelt compadre. Mary-Jane Bostic is frighteningly vivid as the spandex-clad, habitually unfaithful Mrs. Simmons. Stylistically, this comedy has a lot in common with deadpan fly-on-the-wall mockumentaries like THE OFFICE and BORAT. Thematically, there are in-depth looks into issues of male maturity and bonding, so beloved of the Will Ferrell genre (Ferrell's company snatched it up after it rocked the house at Sundance). Be warned: though the movie is full of little kids, it earns its R-rating with disrespectful language and drugs/sex/violence-filled situations. The very cool prog rock score is by Pyramid. [More]

Starring: Danny McBride, Danny R. McBride, Ben Best, Ben Best

Starring: Danny McBride, Danny R. McBride, Ben Best, Ben Best, Mary-Jane Bostic, Mary Jane Bostic

Director: Jody Hill

Director: Jody Hill
Screenwriter: Jody Hill, Jody Hill, Danny McBride, Danny R. McBride, Ben Best, Ben Best
Producer: Jody Hill, Erin Gates, Robbie Hill, Jennifer Chikes
Composer: Pyramid
Studio: Paramount Vantage

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    So It Begins
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    Danny McBride, Jody Hill & Ben Best
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    Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
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Release:

Sep 23, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Special Edition
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Alternate Ending: Alternate Ending
  • Bloopers: Bloopers

Audio Commentary:

  • 1. Commentary with Danny McBride and Jody Hill

Deleted Scenes:

  • 1. Ninja next door
  • 2. Fred gives a Speech about the power inside
  • 3. Racist dinner scene
  • 4. Fred and Carlos get into an argument at dinner
  • 5. Suzie talks shit at dinner
  • 6. Black Belt takes a shit
  • 7. Stevie Fisher scene
  • 8. Mike kills a man then talks to Fred
  • 9. Rick yells at Henry
  • 10. Backyard BBQ
  • 11. Suzie leaves Fred
  • 12. Roy Powers calls Fred, but he doesn't talk to him
  • 13. Fred and Mike on patio
  • 14. Fred and Mike plot murder
  • 15. Fred bids farewell to Mike
  • 16. Fred sells car
  • 17. Fred talks to kid who pees himself
  • 18. Julio molests the punching dummy
  • 19. Drunken angst
  • 20. Sitting in the driveway talking to neighbor
  • 21. Alternate Ending: Fred Murders Suzie
 
 
 
 

Reviews for The Foot Fist Way

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Being a filmmaker myself, I have an affection for directors who gather all the money they can and just go for it. But the humor is not consistent enough for me to fully recommend this.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
10/24/08
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Watching the movie, even when it's not working -- which is a lot of the time -- one doesn't tire of McBride.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
Brent Simon
Screen International

Watchable mockumentary with strong performances, but it's not as funny as it should have been and is ultimately both depressing and uncomfortable to sit through.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/18/08
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Has an irresistible charm and infectious energy.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
10/18/08
Phil Contrino
Boxoffice Magazine

This is a really small film, shot in 19 days, and it's a little rough around the edges, but it's got a huge comic heart that's undeniable.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
10/18/08
Eric Campos
Film Threat

The blatant, inarticulate idiocy of McBride's Simmons is, in a certain way, endearing.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/18/08
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

It’s almost funny, or theoretically funny. It’s just not actually funny.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/18/08
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

But the annoying McBride often resorts to foul-mouthed tirades and so lacks Ricky Gervais’s warmth.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
09/26/08
Sun Online

When it works, The Foot Fist Way is among the most painfully funny comedies of the year. Alas, there’s just as much here that doesn’t quite hit home, making for a lot of dead air between the gags.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
09/26/08
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Cut from the same cringe-inducing cloth as The Office and Napoleon Dynamite, this low-budget comedy about a clueless Tae Kwan Do tutor punches, chops and karate-kicks above its weight.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
09/26/08
Neil Smith
Total Film

This could have been The Karate Kid done as The Office, but in the end drops to its knees as The Flat-Foot Ham-Fisted Way.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment 1 Comment
09/26/08
Sky Movies

From a bunch of minor Judd Apatow protégés, a dispiriting low-budget series of witless, misogynistic sketches masquerading as comedy.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
09/26/08
David Gritten
Daily Telegraph

Shot on video, more vérité than mockumentary in style, Foot Fist shames bigger-budgeted fare with its gags-to-bucks ratio.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
09/26/08
Phelim O'Neill
Guardian [UK]

The comedy is of the kind that makes you wince rather than laugh; the camerawork is defiantly ugly and the performances are unpolished.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
09/26/08
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]

A funny showcase for rising star Danny McBride, if not quite the second comedy coming it's being marketed as.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
09/26/08
Neil Smith
Channel 4 Film

While most of the deadpan remarks hit the spot, the erratic sketch-like editing and overall slapdash structure give it an air of incompleteness. Fun in parts, slipshod in others.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
09/26/08
Derek Adams
Time Out

A striking low-budget debut that manages to combine deadpan one-liners, pathos, physical comedy and fighting stars.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
09/26/08
Empire Magazine

...there is no way of my getting around saying how badly amateurish the film is and how prosaic it can be.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
09/23/08
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Performances are uneven and sometimes self-consciously amateurish, and Brian Mandle’s photography seems to be only a couple of notches above cell-phone home movies.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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