Confused thoughts on the film: The Foot Fist Way

On Memorial Day I walked up to Raleigh Studios to watch a screening of The Foot Fist Way, an independent film shot in Concord, NC about a somewhat inept Tae Kwan Do instructor. This film premiered at Sundance, where it was picked up by Paramount Vantage thanks to the efforts of Will Farrel, who apparently thought this was one of the funniest films he ever saw.

Yeah, I wouldn't go that far.

SPOILERS

This film was all over the place. I hated the main character, then he surrounded himself by such despicable people that I hated him a little less, then I hated him again. I thought briefly that the film was spoofing Tae Kwan Do, but then it wasn't. I thought one dude was a pedophile but that didn't go anywhere. I wasn't sure if this was about fighting or breaking boards with your fist. The main character was a completely incompetent idiot, then suddenly he was a great teacher.

This would be okay I guess if it was some kind of progression set up as the guy's journey but I have to say I was never sure what the hell the guy's journey was. By the time I figured out what lesson he was supposed to learn he'd already learned it. So I was kind of like "Oh. Oh is that what this movie was about?"

There were moments when people in the audience burst into hysterical laughter and all I could do was look around the room trying to figure out what in the sam hill was so god damn funny. I laughed out loud about four times, but the audience lost its shit a lot more than that. I'll be damned if I can figure out why.

This movie had genuine moments of brilliance, but each one was followed by a scene that could have been written by one of my tenth graders.

I loved the protagonist's creepy best friend and his sincere love of the sport, and some of the kids' arcs were fantastic. But for every scene I loved there was one I hated just as much.

For instance, there is a scene where it looks like our teacher and some of his students are at a party and one of them named Henry, I think - by far the most interesting character in this film - starts a potential brawl in the room when some lame guitar player insults him. And I thought - oh cool, this movie's finally getting good - as each of his friends get ready to duke it out in one of the few truly funny moments in the film. And then the leader of the other crew just laughs it off and the fight defuses. I was disappointed as hell after all that build up.

There is finally a fight between our protagonist and his disappointing hero that I really enjoyed, but then it's followed up not by a climactic fight, but by a competition to see who can break the most boards with his fist. So again I was saying to myself, is that what this movie's about? Is that what Tae Kwan Do is about? Breaking boards? What the hell good is a fighting movie when winning a fight is not the goal?

Then again, a part of me thought that was an interesting twist.

Then again, I can't argue with the fact that I felt let down by the ending.

So all in all this movie left me perplexed. Parts of it I loved. Parts of it I spent leaning out of my chair, dreaming of the sunlight outside and wishing I could get some soon.

So if anybody gets a chance to see this movie, let me know what you think. I'm not even sure what my opinion is.