THE FOOT FIST WAY
US, 2006, 82 minutes, Colour.
Danny R. Mc Bride, Ben Best, Mary Jane Bostic, Collette Wolfe.
Directed by Jody Hill.
The foot fist way is Tae Kwon Do.
This is not exactly an unmissable film. It features Danny R. Mc Bride and could have served as an audition and a calling card to roles that he accepted soon after, especially some Judd Appatow (Drillbit Taylor, Pineapple Express) and some Ben Stiller films (The Heartbreak Kid, Tropic Thunder). He is proving himself quite an adept comedian.
He is also adept here, but this is a low-budget film, brief in running-time and not as funny, perhaps, as it intended to be. The trouble is that Mc Bride plays the obnoxious central character, Fred Simmons, so well that he does not seem to be funny but, rather, someone to avoid. He is the self-important (well, he had been a winning champion in 1991) director of a suburban Tae Kwon Do centre, catering for school children, some lonely middle aged clients and some oldies. He can train them well but it is all formal and pompous. He is not the most discreet of characters when he blurts out what he thinks and what he thinks ought to happen. He is married to an over-tanned, statuesque beauty – and we wonder how they ever got married and how they stayed together (though the plot soon shows us that the marriage is collapsible).
There are a lot of shenanigans with his two assistants, one a fat Latino boy whom he puts down, the other a gawky bullied teenager whose low self-esteem he is continually reinforcing. When a school friend turns up, a really strange and creepy type, played by the director and co-writer, they go to a convention and meet their hero, a martial arts movie star. Humiliation, fisticuffs, betrayal all follow! It all culminates in the tests for a higher belt where the right people defeat the wrong people. Whether Fred Simmons could be happy every after is not clear. He may have learned a few lessons, but he really is thick, self-inflated and obtuse.
1.A comedy vehicle for Danny R. Mc Bride? Successful? A calling card for his later films?
2.The North Carolina setting, the background of the writer-director? The town, the centre for tae kwondo? Homes? Diners? An authentic feel for the town? The range of people from the town? The musical score?
3.The title, taekwondo? The principles, each principle being a heading for the chapters of the film?
4.The focus on Fred Simmons, his age, his background, being a champion? His framed documents? His work in the town? With the kids, with Henry, with Julio? The other members of the group? Children, old ladies, middle-aged men? The demonstrations for the public, wanting to get more clients? His school, conducting the lessons? Rick and his brutality? Making him do push-ups? The chance to meet Chuck ‘The Truck’ Wallace, taking the boys to the championship, his wanting Wallace to come to the tests, going to the party? Mike Mc Allister coming to the group, his strange look, way of speaking? His accompanying them to the festival? Wallace and his confrontation with Fred, the fight? His coming to the testing, the testing and Julio having to take over? Fred and his finding his wife with Wallace, after the photos at her first job and his accusations and her leaving? His relationship with his wife, taken for granted, going to the diner for the special? His being beaten up, waking up on the highway, running to the test? The achievement with the test? Henry coming out of himself? Julio running the test successfully? His future?
5.Fred’s character, pompous, self-absorbed, lacking a sense of humour, unable to see the absurd side of himself? Intent on taekwondo and his own powers? Taking his wife for granted, the visit of the friends, his blunt way of speaking and being offensive? His friendship with Mike Mc Allister and Mike being an oddball? The humiliation of Henry and trying to train him? Julio and his eating, his threats? Denise and the interview, his coming on to her, her reaction to him? His going to the festival, the encounter with Wallace, admiration, the party, his suspicions, the fight? His discovery of Wallace with his wife? The dent to his awareness? His being able to learn from his experiences – or not?
6.Suzy, her makeup, tan, way of the world? The possibility of her having married Fred? The meals out? Her day? The photocopies and her lie? (Fred and his taking out his vengeance on the alleged son of the boss – and the mother saying that her husband was dead?) Suzy and her leaving, the phone calls, Fred’s absurd phone calls and ticking her off? Her relationship with Wallace?
7.Denise, normal, enrolling, Fred’s interview, the workouts, his calling her in after Suzy left, his advances and her reaction?
8.Mike Mc Allister, school friend, oddball, his manner, look? His skills? Accompanying Fred and the boys?
9.Henry, gawky, bullied at school, awkward, picked on by Rick? Picked on by Fred? His taking him to see Wallace? The test and the final confrontation with Rick and his winning? Rick, dumb, brutal?
10.Julio, fat, the assistant, the threats from Fred, yet relying on him, his skill in running the tests?
11.The world of tae kwon do? The various instructors? The testing?
12.How well did the film stand as a portrait of a self-absorbed man? His limitations? As comedy? As a background to the world of tai kwondo?
