Fist Fight Reviews

"Fist Fight" is interesting in the sense that it lingers in some form of limbo between a decent comedy and a complete mess. You might think this is a form of saving grace but this really just means that it is a fairly generic and pedestrian affair that it is almost nondescript if you were forced to remember it vividly.

The plot is simple, a somewhat neurotic teacher (Charlie Day) gets in the crosshairs of an extremely aggressive co-worker (Ice Cube) and spends the rest of the time stumbling in and out of hairbrain plots to avoid the titular fist fight he's been challenged to by him. Along the way, as is typical of this type of fare, his character learns something and all is zipped into a comfortable package by the time the credits roll.

The scenario alone could lead to a variety of hilarious and farcical situations but instead the movie putters along on neutral and puts in the bare minimum to keep you mildly alert through the proceedings. There were a couple of moments where I thought that the plot would make a 180 and hit it in to high gear but, alas, it was all for naught. "Fist Fight" settles for "just enough" to make you not entirely regret watching it.

The humor leans more toward the crude and juvenile which I find acceptable if presented in the right way but the filmmakers and, woefully, the actors seem to do little to nothing at all to make it stand out. It is neither offensively charming or offensively bad. instead it's a brief reminder of other similar scenes in a myriad of other movies of its ilk.

Therein lies the movie's biggest issue. It's incredibly predictable and familiar. If you like this type of movie it will cruise along in the slow lane and stop only long enough to hit the required and expected cues. We've seen all this done before and in WAY BETTER fashion.

Charlie Day is a beloved comedy icon thanks to his role in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia but he is an incredibly hard personality to take in large doses. Ice Cube is cartoonishly angry as his character but nobody really matches the outrageous nature of him (despite trying) and as a result he just feels out of place. Jillian Bell as a perverted teacher is just an embarrassingly transparent attempt at risque topical humor.

Ultimately, "Fist Fight" is forgettable and uninspired. It also doesn't really know what it wants to be so it ends up being nothing at all. If you happen to watch it you probably won't feel cheated but you certainly won't laud it. Best to just avoid it and shoot for something better. And, no, the fight wasn't even worth it.

Notes:
*I didn't know anything about this until the trailer came out.
*All I knew is that it looked pretty dang funny.
*I also figured it was going to have some silly adult humor (which of course it did).
*I wasn't sure about Jillian Bell though as I generally find her annoying.
*This is the first time I have heard of the director Richie Keen who has a few films under his belt.
*This is the first writing credit for Evan Susser.
*Van Robichaux also wrote the short Seth Rogen = Worst Person in the World which Evan Susser was in.
*Surprisingly actor Max Greenfield came up with the story for this movie too.
*So let's see if this is really worth checking out or if it's another comedy stumble.

Pros:
*The cast is pretty good with a few people I wasn't expecting to see.
*Ice Cube really captures his funny bone here.
*Jillian Bell wasn't as annoying as usual and I found her character actually amusing.
*The girl that plays Charlie Day's daughter stands out with one of the funniest moments of the film.
*There are some actually decent original jokes throughout.
*I continuously found myself laughing more than I typically do.
*The whole thing pulled together nicely with a pretty good ending.

Cons:
*Some of the silly adult humor was a miss.
*There are definitely some awkward moments although I'm not too surprised.

Verdict:
This was actually a pretty great and hilarious modern comedy. It still has the gross stuff you typically see these days, but it adds some of the great comedy we all wish to see as well. The characters were awesome and everyone had excellent comedic timing here. I went with my wife and we just absolutely enjoyed it. I would say to check it out for a good time full of laughs.