After reviewing the sub-par Observe and Report last night I just had to watch and review the much much better Jody Hill film today, The Foot Fist Way. I just had to get my mind right. The film was made in 2006 and took a while to get a release into limited theaters, but thanks to Will Ferrell's funding that was all able to happen, and it put Jody Hill and Danny McBride on the map.
The film stars the comedic genius Danny McBride as Tae Kwon Do instructor Fred Simmons. Simmons teaches a motley crew of students ranging from 9 year old black belt and assistant teacher Julio, to a 70 year old woman who almost dies while sparring on the mat. Fred's got a serious attitude problem and takes no crap from anybody. Making it well known to everyone that he's the best fighter that lives on the planet, he also takes his job as an instructor very seriously. After going to a Karate demo with a few of his students to see his number one hero Chuck "The Truck" Wallace played by Ben Best, he gets Chuck to agree to come and perform at his small town demo that's happening in the coming days. Fred soon finds out that Chuck "The Truck" Wallace is more into partying and sleeping with Freds wife than the actual spirit of Karate, and Fred has something to say about that.
The foul mouthed Fred Simmons is somewhat similar to Seth Rogans character in Observe and Report except in the long run he actually does have a heart and he does care about his students and their well being. Well, those who deserve it anyways. Freds wife Suzie is basically cheating on him throughout the entire film and it makes for some great comedic moments. Like when she comes home from her new job and he sees that her "work papers" are actually pictures of her naked breasts on the copy machine. Fred is constantly letting his wife, friends over for dinner, and students know who the man is, and Fred's the man. The film opens up to a great scene with Fred and his class giving a small karate demo in a parking lot. This scene is so funny and lets the crowd know right off the bat that even though Fred can't break all the boards and has no style whatsoever while doing it, that he is....still the man and this is....HIS karate class to run.
The script is very well written and it's low budget filmmaking at it's best. Pretty much all of Freds dialogue is laugh out loud funny and the story is very real to the core and shows us what could actually be going on in these small town karate studios. Fred Simmons thinks he's a real life Tae Kwon Do hero and sometimes that makes him a complete a-hole to the general public. But in the end he's a hero to his students who seemed to believe in him the entire way, and that's what counts. Foot Fist Way gets 5 outa 5.
