The Foot Fist Way: Now this looks AWESOME

[GeneChing]

FOOT FIST WAY: Martial Art Truth, Parody, or a Slap in the Face by Dr. Craig Reid. This was posted Friday when it opened, but I was at the Zhang San Feng Festival.

[GeneChing]

...with so many blockbusters coming out for this summer rush, I suspect most of you will see this on DVD. That's a better format for it anyway. It's not a big screen flick.

REAL 2 REEL: "The Foot Fist Way"
Natalie Duchala, Staff Writer
Issue date: 6/9/08 Section: Tempo

Low budget films sometimes turn out to be the best types of movies.

They tend to be more original, not under the pressure to conform to mainstream Hollywood as much.

A really well-done low budget film can be hard to find, but often turns into a classic when found, such as big hits "Napoleon Dynamite," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" or "Juno."

"The Foot Fist Way," on the other hand, does not live up to the standards of other independent films.

The film follows the life of a wrung out Fred Simmons (Danny McBride), a tae kwon do instructor who thinks he is a martial arts legend. Teaching kids martial arts and dealing with his promiscuous wife is the central plot which revolves around a build-up to an end of the year tae kwon do competition. Sadly, this build-up only takes up five minutes of the total movie time and makes it feel like a pointless derision.

Simmons has an obsession with a fellow tae kwon do instructor, Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best), who is somewhat famous and the envy of Simmons.

The movie follows McBride's journey to finally meeting Chuck "The Truck" and getting him to come and make an appearance at the end of the year test for his students.

Basically, "The Foot Fist Way" lacks an interesting plot, which makes it hard to be concerned with what is going to occur next.
To his credit, McBride does bring some hearty laughs to the table.

His nonchalant attitude and his wacky methods of teaching tae kwon do ultimately saved the movie from being a total bore. Overall, he managed to make a normally horrific situation laughable, and made witty one-liners consistently throughout the movie.

If you are a movie buff looking for the new up-and-coming independent hit, "The Foot Fist Way" is probably not for you.

But, if you are just in need of a few laughs and actual content quality is not that important to you, go ahead and take the time to check it out.

Directed by: Jody Hill
Distributed by: Paramount Vantage
Grade: C-

[yutyeesam]

Finally got around to seeing FFW.

I thought it was very good. From a school owner's perspective, they showed:

-A fully equipped facility in a storefront location
-public demos, and the salespitch right after
-the enrollment conference
-year long contracts
-a leadership team
-uniforms, belts, the saying of "yes sir"
-testing day in a high school gym
-bringing in noted martial artists to get members excited

A c0cky school owner, who's TKD tenet brainwashing has given himself:
-an overinflated sense of importance and relevance to society
-an overinflated sense of his own skill
-an overinflated sense of what his TKD teaching can do for you
-an overinflated sense of himself in general
-a general attitude of looking down at people, b/c of his TKD rank

All of which tend to be must-haves if you want to be successful at selling memberships. IE, you must be 1000% over-confident that the public needs you and not the other way around.

The portrayal of his general awkwardness in life outside of his school is the gritty raw truth. Many people (not all) who get involved so deeply and are so deeply affected by martial arts, especially to become a schoolowner and to call oneself a master, tend to have deep seated issues, ranging from inferiority complex issues, to anger issues.

A nice touch was showing his TKD senior, who made him look normal. His skill was much better, but he was that much the loonier for it- the mystical Asia-phile Ninjamaster, who's social ineptitude is a thing of marvel.

The martial arts movie star was a nice dynamic because that is the greatest ego trip of them all. The overinflated sense of self for the school owner holds no candle to the that of the martial arts movie star, because they are screaming, "Look at me!" louder than everyone else. The rock star life of pure hedonism is the thing of envy for the school owner, and basically the one person the school owner will respect.

The plot of FFW is happenstance. It is much more a movie about characters, and how they react when placed in particular situations. It is less about a linear plot narrative. Of course, a plot has to be thrown in there for Hollywood, but it's not really the point of the movie...so any reviewer who pans the film based on the plot clearly did not understand the point of the film.

On a personal note, having been a former school owner myself, I used to be part of a big, national martial arts consulting company. I saw a lot of the technical details that this major consulting company advises on running a commercial school right in there. I also have been to several major martial arts consulting conferences, and all of the social awkward tendencies I observed with the school owners and consultants I've personally met are all captured beautifully in the film as well, and that is the true beauty of it all.

The nature of commercial martial arts schools is a part of the American fabric. Many American sitcoms of the 80's usually have an episode or two where the main character takes martial arts for a day at one of these institutions. The cultic nature of many commercial martial arts schools could be seen as an American institution that give many people a sense of hope and fulfillment where religion, formal education, and family have failed.

In short, you should check it out. It is worth seeing because you will instantly identify with it. But it isn't really a big-screen movie, so if you want to wait for DVD, you could save some money. But personally, I couldn't wait!

-123

[Oso]

'Your weakness is disgusting to me'

Mako said a better version of that line, which they have to be ripping...I wonder why they just didn't rip it completely? copyrights?

[Jimbo]

I finally got around to seeing this.
I actually thought it was a good movie, but in a different way. Anyone expecting a Hollywood-style plot and cinematography will not think so, but then again, FFW is filmed in a bouncy, grainy, pseudo-documentary style which (at the beginning anyway) makes it all the more believable.

The character of "Master Simmons" is at once hilarious, sad, and disturbing. Hilarious because his character is not far off from some real-life people. He puts himself into some of the most absolutely cringe-inducing scenes; you actually begin to feel embarrassed for him. Although this film obviously is poking fun at strip-mall kiddie (or family) karate school egos; in reality, the brainwashing and hypocrisy of his character is NOT limited only to elements in the martial arts field. I won't go into what other fields that could mean, but it's pretty obvious.

I personally didn't find this movie boring. If someone's expecting another Karate Kid or something like that, as did the reel 2 reel staff writer quoted above, then prepare for disappointment. It wouldn't be as funny or disturbing if it were filmed like some big slick Hollywood production. It wouldn't come across as realistic as it does, yet still with enough exaggeration as to make "Simmons", his oddball classmate, and Chuck "the truck" Wallace excellent caricatures of some of the stranger types you may encounter in the martial arts.

[GeneChing]

Our latest sweepstakes is for the new DVD of FOOT FIST WAY with 20 deleted and extended scenes, bloopers and an alternate ending. Good luck everyone. Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 11/10/08.

[Zenshiite]

This movie was hilarious.

[peace&love]

I just watched this on DVD today and thought it was very funny. I experienced the TKD world as shown here about ten years ago. My wife and I took some classes together for about a year. I ripped a hamstring, and then shortly thereafter, our contract ran out. We then moved and my wife lost interest in the martial arts except for tai chi and I did not have any interest in returning until I found kung fu, or perhaps it found me. I guess that depends on one's point of view. Anyway, as mentioned before, all the stereotypes are there. We experienced quite a bit of this during our year of TKD. It was part of a very large organization, they had the belt tests at a local school, and the guy who wants to take everybody's head off was in the class. He was a real loser looking back on it. He would start wailing on kids and women, yet when he sparred men, he did not do so well. His wife was always apologizing for him after class and smoothing things over with the instructor if the guy got too out of line. In a case of karma, he did not attend class all that much because he was always throwing his back out and spending time at the local chiropractor instead of attending class. We never had any celebrity guests at the belt tests or tournaments though. I guess that was not in the budget and the instructor did not have a sports car to sell.

[Lucas]

i just watched this last night. was on my netflix q.

i thought it was a pretty funny movie. ive never trained in a place like this, so personally i am shocked if there are actually martial arts schools like this. well, i know there have to be, and i must say, for shame.

at least at the very end he 'got it'

and the ****ing on the wedding ring, that was very awesome. but he shoulda ****ed on her instead.

[GeneChing]

I totally forgot to mention here that our DVD sweepstakes were awarded back in Nov 08.

[冠木侍]

I have not seen this movie yet but this clip made me laugh

http://www.veoh.com/collection/Funny...627641BMHNcBeH

I apologize if there is a thread on this subject already but I did a search and turned up nothing. If there is, then I'm sure it will be merged.

[Shaolinlueb]

there is a thread on this movie. the foot fist way. its pretty funny. i enjoyed it.

[Lucas]

Heres the original thread.

Foot Fist Way

i thought it was a pretty funny movie. that guy played the pyrotechnician in tropical thunder, hes a funny guy.

[solo1]

http://www.thefootfistway.com/

anybody seen this?

I was told it is hys-frickin-sterical.

[solo1]

pretty much answers the question, thanks guys.