Grump Comedy Reviews – The Foot Fist Way

The Foot Fist Way stars Danny McBride as a sleepy-eyed narcissist who owns a McDojo where he abuses kids and hits on cute blondes. He’s rude, clueless and generally unlikeable.

The guy is so self-involved he doesn’t realize his wife is a cheating whore or that his vocation is bullshit. You can only chop so much plywood before someone who actually knows how to fight kicks your ass.

Which happens often.

If not by actual fists then by his own feelings of inadequacy bubbling underneath the jerky exterior. When that vulnerability appears there’s almost someone to root for – so that by the end, you want this awful schlub to succeed at something.

McBride’s character takes some hits and that makes Foot Fist Way work way better than director Jody Hill’s other feature, Observe and Report – where Seth Rogen screams at everyone forever. Hill is becoming the auteur of “delusional asshole” films, apparently.

Thankfully, McBride’s style of asshole-ness hews closer to Ricky Gervais in The Office, making each encounter, argument and standoff as comfortable as corduroy in July. There’s some wince-worthy interaction and although none of it made me bust out belly laughs – I was left smiling or covering half my face in disbelief.

When he tries to seduce the cute blonde, for example, he gets way too familiar too fast. Watching her whip her head around to avoid his insistent kiss is the kind of painful thing that sends palms flying to foreheads. There are about a hundred similar moments throughout the film.

And his final scene with his wife? Phew. So repulsive and satisfying.

The supporting cast doesn’t bog the movie down either (same can’t be said for Observe and Report!). The kids at the dojo, some jerks in a party scene, a Chuck Norris-like action star – everyone does their part to incite McBride’s insecurities.

The movie’s brisk too, clipping by with episodic Clerks-style title cards related to the tenets of Taekwondo, a conceit spun on its head by the abrupt end. Not that abrupt is a bad thing. Foot Fist Way cuts to the chase, stays amusing throughout and leaves before the wife gets home. It’s a peach in that way.

It’s an alright little movie and I give it my recommendation. It’s no instant classic but it is certainly better than other indie comedies like, I dunno, say, Napoleon Dynamite.

Now that was just shit.

HIGHLIGHT: When the dorky Taekwondo student is listening to the guitar jerk make fun of him at the party. Looking at that face full of nerdy rage, you know things are gonna get violent.

***Tim Magus is Julius Bloop’s film reviewer. Visit his website – Grump Factory***