Fist Fight - directed by Richie Keen
This movie crept into town without so much as a trailer.
I think my local cinema had a poster up for maybe about a week before release.... it could have been a few days.
Regardless I was surprised to find a screening available this week.
I was keen to see it because I had heard a couple of good things and the cast list made it worth checking out.
And I confess the R16 rating indicated that it might have the flexibility to let the cut loose a bit.
In terms of the language at least they surely do..... this is a very, very profane movie!
Profanity aside it is also a pretty funny movie.
Charlie Day's Andy Campbell is a teacher at Roosevelt High School.
It's a rough school at the best of times but given that it is the last day of the school year and also senior prank week Andy is going to have a rougher than normal week.
His car park is stolen by an obnoxious student on a scooter, he is ridiculed by his own English students with obscene graffiti on his whiteboard, there is a round of budget cutting teacher dismissals going, he needs to perform a song and dance number with his daughter and and to top it all off his wife is extremely pregnant and due any day.
But all things considered it could get worse.
And it does.
He gets fellow teacher Mr Strickland (Ice Cube) fired and is then challenged to a fight after school by the very, very angry man.
Yeah- the teachers behaving like the immature students.
And so the movie follows Andy throughout this one day as he tries to avoid getting fired, make his daughter stage production and most of all - avoid death or severe injury at the hands of Mr Strickland.
Andy tries all manner of things to avoid the fight of course and the bulk of the movie is about these attempts.
Of course it is all going to be for nothing and the fist fight of the title is going to happen.... it is not a spoiler to say this - it is pretty clear that it is going to occur.
Of course the point is that Andy is a man who allows himself to be walked all over and this journey is a test for him.
It also allows for some pretty crazy stuff to happen.
There are encounters with the principal ("Breaking Bad's" Dean Norris) run-ins with students, drug deals and bizarre conversations with his guidance counselor friend Holly.
Played by Jillian Bell this character is pretty much every character I have ever seen the actress play.
Loud, inappropriate, sexually aggressive and out and out weird!
There is an ongoing theme of her wanting to have sex with students with one in particular in her sights.
So yes- this movie earns its R16 and not only because of the massive number of f-bombs in the dialogue.
There is that very frank sexual discussion but also pretty much each and every character apart from Andy and his family are very angry, very aggressive and not particularly pleasant human beings.
Arguably the students are the worst of all.
They are so bad with their pranks and complete lack of respect that they have effectively created the violent, out of control monster that Mr Strickland has become.
He may desire the same outcome that all of the teachers want - an environment of safety, respect and learning- but he goes about it in all of the wrong ways.
The incident that resulting in the sacking involved a desk, a fire axe and some terrified children.
The rub of course is that his actions - ill advised as they are- may result in a change.
They certainly result in many characters deserving of behavioural correction getting suitable comeuppance.
And that is probably the reason for the degree of success that this film has.
It is fun watching a bullied man turn the tables on those who have treated him so badly.
This is all extremely predictable stuff though and how much you enjoy "Fist Fight" will depend on how tolerant you are of knowing almost exactly what is going to happen.
Ice Cube isn't the sort of guy who enjoys coming off second best in films and that in itself should tip you off to some of what is in store.
The titular fight however is not quite so easy to predict.
It is a surprisingly kinetic and often violent affair staged like an action scene.
It is lengthy and employs some pretty vicious tactics.
At 91 minutes "Fist Fight" is about the right length.
There isn't a lot of meat here plotwise but the appealing cast including a stupidly pretty JoAnna Garcia Swisher make the most of it and the laughs come often enough and strong enough.
Christina Hendricks has a small but memorable role and Tracy Morgan is pretty much Tracy Morgan.
Oh, and stay for all of the credits for bloopers and an end of credits bonus scene.
RATING: 77 / 100
CONCLUSION: Fist Fight is no comedy classic but I laughed plenty and despite the extreme predictability enjoyed it quite a lot. In truth you can wait for a blu-ray / Netflix release but regardless of how you watch it you should have some fun.
Starring: Charlie Day, Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Dean Norris, Christina Hendricks, Kumail Nanjiani, Dennis Haysbert, Alexa Nisenson, Stephanie Weir, Kym Whitley
Screenplay: Van Robichaux & Evan Susser
Music Score by: Dominic Lewis
Cinematography: Eric Alan Edwards
Edited by: Matthew Freund
Running Time: 91 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R16- Violence, frequent profanity, drug use & sexual content
Running Time: 91 minutes
Language: English
Rated: R16- Violence, frequent profanity, drug use & sexual content
This movie crept into town without so much as a trailer.
I think my local cinema had a poster up for maybe about a week before release.... it could have been a few days.
Regardless I was surprised to find a screening available this week.
I was keen to see it because I had heard a couple of good things and the cast list made it worth checking out.
And I confess the R16 rating indicated that it might have the flexibility to let the cut loose a bit.
In terms of the language at least they surely do..... this is a very, very profane movie!
Profanity aside it is also a pretty funny movie.
Charlie Day's Andy Campbell is a teacher at Roosevelt High School.
It's a rough school at the best of times but given that it is the last day of the school year and also senior prank week Andy is going to have a rougher than normal week.
His car park is stolen by an obnoxious student on a scooter, he is ridiculed by his own English students with obscene graffiti on his whiteboard, there is a round of budget cutting teacher dismissals going, he needs to perform a song and dance number with his daughter and and to top it all off his wife is extremely pregnant and due any day.
But all things considered it could get worse.
And it does.
He gets fellow teacher Mr Strickland (Ice Cube) fired and is then challenged to a fight after school by the very, very angry man.
Yeah- the teachers behaving like the immature students.
And so the movie follows Andy throughout this one day as he tries to avoid getting fired, make his daughter stage production and most of all - avoid death or severe injury at the hands of Mr Strickland.
 |
| Charlie Day as Andy and right Jillian Bell and Tracy Morgan play friends... sort of |
Of course it is all going to be for nothing and the fist fight of the title is going to happen.... it is not a spoiler to say this - it is pretty clear that it is going to occur.
Of course the point is that Andy is a man who allows himself to be walked all over and this journey is a test for him.
It also allows for some pretty crazy stuff to happen.
There are encounters with the principal ("Breaking Bad's" Dean Norris) run-ins with students, drug deals and bizarre conversations with his guidance counselor friend Holly.
Played by Jillian Bell this character is pretty much every character I have ever seen the actress play.
Loud, inappropriate, sexually aggressive and out and out weird!
There is an ongoing theme of her wanting to have sex with students with one in particular in her sights.
 |
| Strickland is coming and the principal (Dean Norris) and Security (Kumail Najiani) will be no help |
There is that very frank sexual discussion but also pretty much each and every character apart from Andy and his family are very angry, very aggressive and not particularly pleasant human beings.
Arguably the students are the worst of all.
They are so bad with their pranks and complete lack of respect that they have effectively created the violent, out of control monster that Mr Strickland has become.
He may desire the same outcome that all of the teachers want - an environment of safety, respect and learning- but he goes about it in all of the wrong ways.
The incident that resulting in the sacking involved a desk, a fire axe and some terrified children.
The rub of course is that his actions - ill advised as they are- may result in a change.
They certainly result in many characters deserving of behavioural correction getting suitable comeuppance.
And that is probably the reason for the degree of success that this film has.
It is fun watching a bullied man turn the tables on those who have treated him so badly.
 |
| Christina Hendricks and JoAnna Garcia Swisher |
Ice Cube isn't the sort of guy who enjoys coming off second best in films and that in itself should tip you off to some of what is in store.
The titular fight however is not quite so easy to predict.
It is a surprisingly kinetic and often violent affair staged like an action scene.
It is lengthy and employs some pretty vicious tactics.
At 91 minutes "Fist Fight" is about the right length.
There isn't a lot of meat here plotwise but the appealing cast including a stupidly pretty JoAnna Garcia Swisher make the most of it and the laughs come often enough and strong enough.
Christina Hendricks has a small but memorable role and Tracy Morgan is pretty much Tracy Morgan.
Oh, and stay for all of the credits for bloopers and an end of credits bonus scene.
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