You know that not-yet-famous guy that unaccountably popped up in notable supporting roles in two of the biggest comedies of the summer, 'Pineapple Express' and 'Tropic Thunder'? His name is Danny McBride and 'The Foot Fist Way' became his golden ticket.
A super low-budget indie comedy co-written by McBride and Director Jody Hill that excels in accentuating the completely unjustified cockiness of a man with a borderline elementary-school intellect - think Ricky Gervais of 'The Office', Will Ferrell in...well anything, or even Homer Simpson - the pic garnered the attention of Will Ferrell and Adam McKay who championed the film into a theatrical release and brought McBride into the clutches of the Apatow team.
It's easy to see why Ferrell and McKay were so taken with the film as Fred Simmons, a suburban mall Tae Kwon Do instructor as played by McBride, is not that far removed from any number of Ferrell's man-child characters...but funnier.
The unfortunate tag on the cover of the DVD is 'The best thing of its kind since Napoleon Dynamite' which is a surefire way for me to throw my wife and daughter in the way of harm that would be sure to result from such a film but 'The Foot Fist Way' couldn't be any further apart.
Sure, a low-budget small-town America film center-pieced around a moron might seem like an apt comparison to 'Napoleon Dynamite' but I'm more inclined to agree with Roger Ebert who wisely suggested keeping kids miles away from this film. Fred Simmons is one of those guys that don’t have a filter between what he's thinking and what he says. Assuming that he's thinking much of anything.
Winning a Tae Kwon Do championship in Vegas years before, Fred is still clinging to that glory with absolutely no self-awareness. Running his small-town TKD studio and training an assortment of young oddballs and middle-aged losers, Fred seems completely content yelling and cursing at his young students with a military zest.
His world of confidence comes crashing down around him however when he finds out his white-trash blonde bimbo wife has been cheating on him to fit in at work. In her defense, she got "Myrtle Beach drunk". This, of course, results in a downward spiral of self-doubt where he resorts to such lows as beating the crap out of a kid in his class who he thinks is the son of the guy his wife cheated with.
Patching things up with his wife mainly because his ego couldn't handle any other option, he sets off on a road trip with his sycophantic young sidekicks Julio (Spencer Moreno), Henry (Carlos Lopez) and his possibly psychotic older bud Mike (director Jody Hill) to meet his idol Chuck 'The Truck' Wallace (a great Ben Best doing a poor man's Chuck Norris...).
Through a series of extremely awkward but funny events, Fred manages to convince Chuck 'The Truck' Wallace to pay a visit to his studio for testing (students doing tests to rise to the next belt) for the friend price of "$10,000".
This visit doesn't pan out as expected as poor Fred is a little too trusting with his boozy hero Chuck and his floozy wife. Can Fred regain some semblance of respect after the ultimate smack-down both physically and emotionally?
Danny McBride is a funny guy no doubt about it and the film is almost completely driven by his uncomfortably daft character, Fred Simmons. There are a few cheap physical gags that were admittedly pretty funny but most of the laughs come from the in-the-moment delivery of McBride.
The writing itself was almost irrelevant nor did I remember specific jokes but McBride's mug and his seemingly impromptu stream of douchebagness will easily be worth the price of admission for fans of this type of awkward humor.
The most notable special feature is the feature-length audio commentary with McBride, Jody Hill and production designer Randy Gambill and the result is chummy and entertaining as expected. We also get a half-hour featurette mostly consisting of on-set footage, bloopers and an impressive amount of deleted scenes along with an alternate ending which are fairly entertaining.
Certainly recommended for fans of vulgar and awkward humor and if you thought Danny McBride was funny in ‘Pineapple Express’ and ‘Tropic Thunder’, then you definitely will want to check this pic out. A nice sprinkling of extras is appreciated so recommended for the right crowd.
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