A new hero of martial arts rises from a North Carolina strip mall in this independent comedy. Fred Simmons is one of the world's most gifted practitioners of the Korean fighting style known as Taekwondo -- or at least that's what he likes to tell people. Despite his supposed skills, Fred teaches students out of a shabby dojo, where for the most part, he browbeats kids into learning the aggressive points of the martial arts without having much understanding of the philosophy or reasoning behind
it. Not that most folks care -- in the small town where he teaches, Fred is considered to be the real deal, and his talent as a fighter earns him plenty of respect. But Fred's reputation (and ego) takes a serious blow when he learns his wife, Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic), has been fooling around with another man, and Fred challenges him to a fight that doesn't go well. Falling into an emotional tailspin, Fred goes on a pilgrimage to meet his hero and role model, martial arts celebrity Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best). The Foot Fist Way was the first feature film from writer and director Jody Hill. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
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.
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.
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.
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.
I'd heard nothing but good things about this film but after watching it I'm not sure why. It reminded me of the original Office but done badly and in a martial art school. That's basically what it is, I'm not a huge fan of the original Office (although I quite like the American version) and this wasn't even as good as
that. I can't believe Danny McBride is almost the same age as me either but that's beside the point. He has been much funnier than this, although well done to him for playing it straight for the entire duration and well done to the film makers for making it for under $20,000. It's just a shame it wasn't very funny.
The filmmaking brings out a lot of nuances, about our fantasies about personal victory and the fantasizing in American fight movies. Some of the humor might not be as upfront as in most of the higher-budget vehicles.Collette Wolfe's disappearance from the story is beguiling. She's attractive and sympathetic and
open-minded, and you realize that one thing movies tend to do for an audience is to keep charming people like this around to light the place up, when in real life the hijinks would feel as homey as your best friend's 10-day manic episode.
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