The Foot Fist Way

An inept karate instructor struggles with marital troubles and an unhealthy obsession with fellow karate enthusiast Chuck "The Truck" Williams.

If there's such a thing as a destined-to-be-cult film, The Fist Foot Way is one. Self-aggrandizing tae kwon do instructor Fred Simmons (Danny McBride, Drillbit Taylor, Tropic Thunder) belittles his young and inexperienced students and snipes at his wife Suzie (Mary Jane Bostic). But when marital trouble strikes, Fred's sense of self capsizes and he starts acting out in wildly inappropriate ways. When a pilgrimage to meet his hero, sleazy martial arts champion Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), has terrible results, Fred must confront his demons--and, this being a comedy, his struggle is wildly unsuccessful. McBride is a white trash American version of Ricky Gervais (BBC's The Office); he's created a character whose excruciatingly bad behavior can't be dismissed because it's too real. Jeff Simmons is petty, tyrannical, insecure, delusional, lacking any sliver of dignity--i.e., human in all the worst ways. Many people will find The Foot Fist Way unendurable, but some members of the moviegoing public (and you'll know who you are the moment you see this movie) are going to find it painfully funny, so funny they'll have to turn away and cringe from recognition even as they succumb to fits of giggles. --Bret Fetzer