The Foot Fist Way

"The Foot Fist Way" is the second Jody Hill movie I've watched. The first was "Observe and Report" with Seth Rogen which was released in 2009. I'm noticing that the Jody Hill formula is to make comedies dressed as dramas, so there will be no audio or visual cues to laugh. The actors' faces, voices, and movements won't cue you that this is a joke, simply the dialog and perhaps the absurdity of the situation. It's a unique style that isn't going to have you rolling on the floor laughing.

In TFFW Danny McBride played Fred Simmons, a Taekwondo instructor in North Carolina. He is a joke of an instructor with a super hot wife and a super hot car. Danny McBride consumes about 80% of the screen time, so the movie truly hinges upon him. His wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic) and his idol Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best) have the next greatest share of screen time and it's not that much.

This movie had two very funny scenes which carried it. The rest of the movie kept a steady pace although it didn't register highly on the funny scale.

This is the type of movie that gets funnier each time you watch it, just like The Big Lebowski. It takes a while to get a feel for the level of realism (a bit more serious than Napoleon Dynamite), but when you're finally tuned in to the wavelength of the makers, you can almost instantly re-watch it (which will not take up too much time because it's refreshingly short). Once you know the characters are a bit silly, but not trying to generate cheap laughs or thrills (it must have been tempting to let Mr. Simmons totally snap, or have an all out brawl at the hotel room party, or let Mrs. Simmons show some more skin), the story becomes remarkably solid.

Cute silliness about a local strip-mall Tae Kwon Do dojang owner who never grew up. From his abuse of his children pupils to his choice in wives he is stunted. It shouldn't be funny to see his pain but it's hilarious. Well done.

I like The foot fist way very much. The reason for this is simple; it's very realistic and human-like. Normally all movies are cool slick Hollywood movies. Where everybody is perfect, and the good guy always gets the beautiful girl in the end and every fight scene lasts 20 minutes,....well not in my life.

The main character of The Foot Fist Way is actually very easy to recognize in the first place. Many people ARE like him, and many people probably can identify with the main character. I know I can. Hell, maybe people say I'm a loser for admitting this, but I know my life more resembles 'the foot fist way' than it does 'Casino Royale' or 'Die Hard'.

I practice karate, and although this movie is about Tea Kwon Do (these sports are very similar), I can tell you that the exaggerations are real. And there are people out there that are made off no more than hot air.

Anyway, the 'crappy' filming makes this movie almost a documentary. And the fact that the actors are so simple, and not famous is very refreshing. I like real life, and I like movies that represent real-life. The Hollywood fairy tales are awful, in my opinion. The pace of the movie is good, and I thought is was short....I was really entertained. And real martial arts isn't as spectacular as we get to see in Hollywood movies, its as crappy as presented in this film. (in the sense of 'normal' people that practice martial arts).

In my opinion the producers were successful in creating a funny movie about things in life we all can relate to.

If you're looking for dumb kind of humor like in "anchorman" or "zoolander" , or any of Adam Sandlers stuff you will be disappointed - this low budget flick is completely different - kinda a gulp of fresh air I must say - it's truthful, believable and even artsy to some degree. Most of jokes are concentrated on deep sarcasm and irony and if that's your cup of tee - I think you'll love it like I did. This movie shows you that you don't need to go over the top to be funny and you don't need to follow clichés to bring up some message. Of-course, it has some pretty dumb moments by itself, but they come just at the right time and don't ruin the atmosphere at all. I'm not saying that it's a masterpiece, but I think it is at least worth checking out. I would recommend it if you have some spare time to waste.