The Foot Fist Way
2006; directed by Jody Hill

The Foot Fist Way is the sort of comedy Bruce Lee might make. That is, if Bruce Lee was a slightly white trash dude living down south with a bleached-blonde wife who runs his martial arts school out of a strip mall. Actually, scratch that. To invoke Bruce Lee's name aligned with this picture is sacrilegious. But The Foot Fist Way is still actually a pretty funny movie.

The slightly white trash dude in question here is Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), a former taekwondo champ currently making his living running a school in a small town. Things seem to be going great for Fred -- he's got lots of students, a Ferrari in the garage, and a hot wife, Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic). That is, until Suzie reveals that she gave a "happy release" to her boss at an office party.

Dejected and embarrassed, Fred's life spins out of control until he meets his idol, Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best) at a martial arts expo. Fred convinces Chuck to appear at his school, and things seem to be getting back on track. But fate rears its' ugly head once again, as Fred catches Suzie and Chuck doing the horizontal bop. Now, to regain his honor, Fred must take on his hero during a martial arts competition.

The Foot Fist Way subscribes to the "lewd with a heart" formula that Hollywood comedies have seemed to favor since the success of Judd Apatow's The 40 Year Old Virgin. While, frankly, the gimmick has been played out and probably needs to be retired for a while, The Foot Fist Way still manages to generate a good amount of laughs, mostly on the strength of Danny McBride's performance.

The character of Fred is initially just looks to be a stereotypical dopey testosterone-driven meathead. And in many ways, he is. After finding about Suzie's own fists of fury, he resorts to beating up one of his students -- in a scene that is much funnier than it has any right to be, given that it's a grown man kicking the crap out of a kid. But he also has a code of honor, as twisted as it might be. Even though he might abuse his students at points, in many ways he's a father figure to them, even to the older ones that should know better.

It's that sort of multi-dimensionality that elevates The Foot Fist Way above the simple level of dick and fart jokes. Sure, seeing an old lady get a roundhouse kick to the breadbasket is funny in that sort of trainwreck "should I be watching this" way. But, as recent terrible Hollywood comedies like Disaster Movie have shown, you can't simply throw that kind of humor at the viewer for ninety minutes and expect them to keep responding positively.

To be sure, ultimately, you're not really going to bond with Fred, or really give a crap about his life's problems. But since the film-makers actually end up making you care about him -- even if it's just a little bit -- that makes the resulting hijinks generate laughs, rather than groans. If you're a fan of martial arts movies and would like to see a comedic take on the genre, The Foot Fist Way should definitely fit the bill.

RATING: 7