Foot Fist Way, The

Stars: Danny McBride, Mary Jane Bostic, Ben Best, Ken Aguilar, Collette Wolfe

Director: Jody Hill

Meet Fred Simmons (McBride). He's a dysfunctional, self-important jerk, the living embodiment of how to lose friends and alienate people. He talks a load of rubbish in stream-of-consciousness style - 'She was a girl, a girl I signed up, a new girl' - and, married to a slut of a wife (Bostic) whom he sees as a paragon of virtue, he runs a taekwondo martial arts studio: he's a black belt, 4th level.

Fred is a distant relative of David Brent from The Office, but less intelligent: his attempts to seduce a pretty student (Wolfe) are as ludicrous as they are laughable. Fred's so-called life is filmed in mockumentary fashion - hand-held cameras and apparently improvised dialogue - by director Hill, and climaxes when his idol Chuck the Truck (Best), a dissolute martial arts star, agrees to attend Fred's latest belt presentations - for 10,000 dollars, to get which Fred sells his beloved red car.

Despite one or two guffaws, this is pathetic (in the truest sense) rather than funny, but at least Fred is a real character, and probably heralds a career in high-profile comedy cameos for McBride, who also scored as the heroes' hapless friend in Pineapple Express.

David Quinlan

USA 2008. UK Distributor: Momentum. Colour.
84 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 2.

Review date: 21 Sep 2008