‘Foot Fist Way’ hits below the belt

Just when I though martial arts was finally reaching a higher level of dramatic expression in American cinema with David Mamet’s REDBELT, here comes THE FOOT FIST WAY, the low-brow indie darling of presenters Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Its crass hero, Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), is the antithesis to all that martial artists should aspire to be and that’s exactly what the filmmakers had in mind.

Simmons is a mediocre Taekwondo instructor running a school in a strip mall in North Carolina who discovers his wife has been cheating on him. After taking his frustrations out on young students and subsequently seeing his life head straight to the toilet, Simmons goes on a trip with several friends to meet his hero, martial arts champion and B-movie star Chuck “The Truck” Wallace for what becomes his greatest challenge.

What is startling is how accurate this portrayal of the martial arts scene in America appears to be at first look, at least parts of it. I hate to say it but I’ve actually met martial artists like Fred Simmons.

“I wanted to show the martial arts world that wasn’t,” says Hill, a third-degree black belt. “Many perceive from the movies that these instructors are peaceful creatures, but in actuality they’re rednecks who beat people up in bars and go through divorces.”

It’s no wonder that Ferrell and McKay rescued this $70,000 film, completed in 2006, from an ignoble end at Sundance. By most accounts, the comedy that Hill, along with co-writers Ben Best and McBride put together is very much in step with the likes of ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS, except on a small budget.

One commonality shared between THE FOOT FIST WAY and REDBELT is that both films are steering the martial arts genre away from convention. While REDBELT, released on May 9th, takes the high road to focus on an ideal representation of martial arts, Hill’s film aims squarely below the belt and in doing so likely strikes closer to home than many people here in the U.S. would care to admit or would even recognize.

Still, it may be interesting to see how Taekwondo is represented beyond the bad behavior given the director’s background. From the looks of the trailer there seems to be refreshingly little reliance on past action movie conventions. The same cannot be said for its comedy.

The Ferrell-McKay style of humor seems played out since ANCHORMAN, it undoubtedly still has an eager audience willing to see more of the same from upstarts – at least that’s what Ferrell and McKay are betting on, along with Paramount Vantage. Beginning today, May 30th, THE FIST FOOT WAY begins a limited theatrical run in the U.S.

R-Rated Trailer

PG Trailer