Vintage

Danny McBride is not a name that evokes any kind of cinematic memories for most people, I would bet. Some people might say “yeah, I knew a Danny McBride. I think he was in my French class, er…wait…maybe he was on my youth soccer team back in the day.” But while such a statement may or may not be true, chances are the Danny McBride who stars in the movie The Foot Fist Way is not the same one that the above quoted person was thinking about.

McBride might be known by some as the pyrotechnics guy in Tropic Thunder, Red from Pineapple Express or most recently as Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down, the increasingly popular HBO show but it is McBride’s work – as both and actor and a writer – in The Foot Fist Way that undoubtedly led to many of these other roles.

According to the opening credits this film is “presented” by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, writer of Anchorman among other similar comedies, so one can initially suspect what type of film they’re in store for when they sit down to watch this one. And after a slow first few minutes, the next hour and twenty minutes or so are full of plentiful quotable one-liners and hilariously awkward exchanges.

            The basic premise of this movie centers on Fred Simmons (McBride) and the small Tae Kwon Do class he teaches in small town. The class is predominately made up with young children and teenagers who Simmons, a fourth degree blackbelt, doesn’t seem to have any problem using inappropriate words or actions around or even in some cases physically injuring, especially after he finds out his wife gave her boss a hand job. Understandably, this creates much anxiety for Simmons who then, along with his best friend and two of his younger students embark on a road trip to help deal with the “rough patch” he’s dealing with and to see Chuck “The Truck” Wallace the “best hero” of Simmons and star of several Hollywood Tae Kwon Do movies. While asking Wallace for an autograph, Simmons is invited to a party in “the Trucks” hotel room which, after a brief altercation leads to Wallace accepting an invitation to perform at the upcoming testing session for the Tae Kwon Do class. Things seem to be going better after this turn of events as Simmons has renewed confidence and even gets back together with his girlfriend but by the time Wallace makes his way to town to fulfill his obligation at the testing session everything has started to fall apart once again. After welcoming his her Wallace into his home, Simmons is shocked to find his girlfriend “riding the truck” and ends up getting his face terribly bruised in the ensuing fight. Still, the two men both make it to the testing where they face off against each other and Simmons regains his old form.

            So after all that I have to say that I’ll give this movie a QUEEN. It’s well written and funny as hell but in the end it’s still just a silly comedy. To try and rate it higher and compare it with the like of those films that are ACES and KINGS would be doing a disservice to the filmmakers who worked so hard on those more serious films. But as far as silly comedies go, The Foot Fist Way is a must-see. If you’re looking for laughs, and liked any of the other movies mentioned above, you’ll be a fan of this one too.