The Foot Fist Way (2006)

Truly Dreadful Film

Sorry, this movie sucks

Beautiful, moving film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Fred Simmons (Danny McBride) is a delusional over-confident Tae Kwon Do instructor. His wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) just started a new job. He's devastated when she tells him that she gave her boss a hand job during a drunken party. He goes to a martial arts expo to meet his idol B-movie action star Chuck "the Truck" Wallace (Ben Best) but he turns out to be a drunk.This is a one-note performance from Danny McBride. He's a ridiculous man who doesn't know how ridiculous he is. It's funny at times but just get repetitive. He's also not an adorable character. It's great that Danny has created this outrageous character. It's a fun dark comedy. He just needs to expand the role of Denise (Collette Wolfe) who can call him on his BS. Even this character needs a straight man.

FOOT FIST WAY is the literal English translation of Tae Kwon Do. And the ancient Tibetan translation is Not Quite Comedy.Produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, Danny McBride's THE FOOT FIST WAY is an uneven bid at indie cult, as it explores themes of narcissism and self-esteem, filled with non-sequitur characters, bad actors, and jokes that Will Ferrell would find funny.McBride is Fred Simmons, a mediocre yet egomaniacal karate instructor, who owns and runs his own dojo, giving parking lot demonstrations to solicit customers. In his words, he is "The King of Demo." Fred's life falls apart when he discovers his wife, Suzie (Mary Jane Bostick, whose acting talent stems solely from her mungus bazoongas) has been having an affair with her boss. When he further discovers his idol, karate master Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best) is a callous asshole, his worldview comes crashing down. It doesn't help when Fred busts his wife taking a ride on The Truck...Filmed entirely with a Steadicam, FOOT FIST WAY is a painfully-independent comedy; to his credit, McBride pulls off a good Ricky Gervais Lite, but the production is lacklustre, although I wouldn't blame the filmmakers' sincerity, rather, budget.We can never discern whether Fred Simmons is actually a craftsman or not, as he has won awards - yet his demonstrations don't exactly inspire awe the way watching even one second of Bruce Lee does.This movie is also painful to tutors of all stripes. Allow me to explain, through my catharsis: Parents may send their kids to piano lessons, but the irony is, they don't necessarily want their kid to END UP a piano teacher. They want much more for their little Bubba. They trust the teacher enough to have the teacher's ideas implanted in Bubba's head for life, and they respect the teacher enough to allow little Bubba behind closed doors with them - but seriously, "those who can't do, teach," right? Fred Simmons character arcs in all the right places and finds he must give up his illusions and actually "do" to Truck Wallace; the servant must become the master, the teacher must become the pwner... and other spiritual guff like that.--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania).

Anyone who has stepped into a dojo anywhere in the United States in the past 40 years will instantly recognize the Danny McBride character in THE FOOT FIST WAY. When the "kung fu craze" started in the early 1970s (thanks to the importing of hundreds of Chinese martial arts movies- which, unlike the samurai movies that preceded them, gave us heroes who relied on their own physical abilities to resolve disputes), the local dojos where I lived upped enrollment (and monthly fees) and guaranteed students "a black belt in six months!" And the instructors delivered: six months after joining, locals were showing off their new black belts. (The only black belt I've ever met in my life who would've given me pause in a street fight was Joe Lewis, the first full-contact heavyweight karate champion of the world.) Like it or not, THE FOOT FIST WAY happens to be a very accurate look at American martial arts (it's certainly superior to David Mamet's moronic mixed martial arts movie, RED BELT) and, for that reason if no other, rates a look.

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.