Fist Fight
Richie Keen
Writers:
Van Robichaux, Evan Susser, and Max Greenfield.
Cast:
Ice Cube (Strickland), Charlie Day (Andy Campbell), Tracy Morgan (Coach Crawford), Christina Hendricks (Ms. Monet), Jillian Bell (Holly), Dean Norris (Principal Tyler), Kumail Nanjiani (Mehar), Dennis Haysbert (Superintendent Johnson), JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Maggie), Alexa Nisenson (Ally), and Stephnie Weir as Suzie.
Opening Credits:
What is a comedy? Does anybody know. Because lately the mainstream world of film has been making garbage. Comedy to me is pure and simple; Entertainment with the mixed use of satirical sketches which should make you laugh. That is the point isn't it. Making you laugh. At what point does a film take you into the story, and more often than most the film doesn't make you laugh.
Go to the manager of the theater and ask for your money back, right? Nope that's not the way it works. The film sometimes has some, but very little comedic content, which draws you in. Not so simplistic is it. The way Hollywood has managed to mess things up, even comedy. To me if you mess up a comedy, then the job that person holds should be vacant. The industry for comedy except the one's with power, such as the Coen brothers together these guys have pretty decent comedic films. Comedy should be an escape, release of some kind; Not adding to the issues of life. either way enjoy the Fist Fight review, i have a lot to say about the film, until next time.
Review:
The Good:
Strickland (Ice Cube) for starters is a great character, which in the film he is pretty intense. The History teacher with an obtuse past. His anger is fueled by those teenagers messing around. After all it is the last day of school. Senior pranks are at the utmost high. The bad choices the teenagers make in Strickland's classroom during a Civil War documentary is pretty epic. One teen has his phone synced with the classroom TV, so each time Strickland tries to fix the TV, it turns off. The scene is really good. Especially with Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) coming in to save the day, An English teacher finding the culprit pisses off Strickland. This happens a couple more times, which pushes Strickland over the edge. He comes in with an Axe, smashing one of the classroom desks apart. Hoping his message, which is violent gets to the teeangers.
The scene is done well, Andy is his usual self, always trying to find a way out, but by doing so, continues to push Strickland. Andy is more like a coward, he gets made fun of by the teens, a pushover meal ticket.
Another aspect of the film which i believe is done right could've made this film a huge hit. Holly (Jillian Bell) was used as a funny instrument which failed, but i would've given the writers an A for effort. Bell was in the films Bridesmaids (2011), 22 Jump Street she played Mercedes in that film. Her characters are usually funny, a part of the story here. They could've capitalized on her character archetype and this film would've soared. She was another great part of the film.
Coach Crawford (Tracy Morgan), and Ms Monet (Christina Hendricks) was just another add on to a film that could've been much more. Especially when you have both of these great actors, it was a damn shame. Their use in the story was almost obsolete, and both characters were all over the place. You have Tracy Morgan and Christina Hendricks, both of these comedic giants couldn't do what they do best because of the dialog, and bad screenplay. But again i give the writers a big hand in choosing both actors, damn shame these guys weren't used better, i mean Tracy Morgan as a Coach, how epic is that, and yet his scenes weren't funny. That makes me as angry as Christina Hendricks being a psychopath like teacher. That archetype was dead on arrival, it wasn't even funny. The teenager masterbateing in the bathroom getting caught, now that was funny. Instead of using more of this, the writers went in another direction.
Ally (Alexa Nisenson) probably the best thing that this film has. Her performance with the song Seasons Of Love written by Jonathan Larson. The performance was at a talent show, her dad Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) was supposed to perform with Ally on stage. But, circumstances changed things around. Either way both father and daughter team went up on stage and both did their thing. It had some pretty intense language, but all in all it got the point across, which made the scene really good. I have the clip up, check it out. But if you're under age, not my fault, on your own on this one.
The Bad:
Unfortunately Charlie Day wasn't the best choice for the film. I would've went with the much older and funnier Rick Moranis. Think about it, the mean guy wants to fight a much older English teacher. he could've brought a new dynamic to the story. Charlie Day was miscast for the film, instead of being funny, he was like the guy in a stand up talking about his life, and the joke just went dead on arrival. Usually the guy can act, and is really funny; Check out Horrible Bosses (2011) a great film, and it's very funny. Charlie tries but the screenplay is too weak to even go in the right direction, which is engaging character types. His dynamic with Ice Cube wasn't there, it died on the first approach. The Andy Campbell English teacher was a washed out bored dude with no real life. Not the actors fault, it goes to the writing team.
Charlie Day was just one of those choices and it was a really bad one for this film, at least if the casting for the part of Andy was decent the film would've been a whole lot better. I mean i like the actor, he's usually funny, but i didn't laugh at any of his scenes with only the talent show as the acception. Comedies you could really get some wiggle room for reality, but in the case for Fist Fight, it really didn't even make the charts. I mean look at what you had to work with dialog wise. I felt like i was at a tryout for a B-movie, and the director was picking the lead actor. It was like American Idol, with all those really bad singers. why even wait, just leave while you're ahead.
The Ugly:
The dogs came out in full force this time around for this film. Fist Fight is probably the worst comedy I've seen in a long time. The story really goes nowhere. From the start it had promise, but afterwards the dialog is pretty much the F bomb with every sentence. I could understand if the character's had use for it but to me it was too much. The use of the F bomb must be special, it must be thrown in so the audience is unaware. Just like the talent show, it was thrown in, and the audience laughed because of the uncomfortable, uncertainty of the scene.
The main plot point of this film is simply that the teachers, parents, are sick and tired of the millennials and the politically correct movements. Yes this happens more than we might think, and the folks that wrote the story, blew off some steam. The way the film is, you might think the writer was so pissed off that he really didn't care of what people might think of his film, the fact that the steam was hardcore, but it still could've been more.
Again a damn shame the story had to tank, it was the situations that made it tank, they're not even supposed to happen like that. Granted i know folks curse, that's just the way it is, but not everyone. The whole teachers staff. That was just a small problem, because the bigger one, even with the cursing the film still tanked. Not going to bring up the box office, but it did not do well. Comedies should be unpredictable like something coming at you at 100 miles per hour. This film managed to go around 25 miles per hour.
End:
The film has a huge cast with so much talent. The fact that the story idea was Ok and not over the top like a comedy should be was surprising. If Ice Cube or the talent show wasn't in the movie then the film would've probably been the worst comedy in film. The actors weren't the problem, it was the script. Imagine going to a stand up show and the guy or gal doesn't deliver like they should. Some people aren't funny. And as a society we have to understand that. Like the really bad joke your buddy dished out but realized it sucked. The laughter wasn't real, it was as fake as a female's breast implants. The point here is a comedy is supposed to make you laugh, and this film did not. The main reason was the script, and bad miscasting. All in all the check out these comedies, Bad Moms (2016), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Neighbors (2014). These films are pretty recent in the comedy department, and you'll know what i mean when i pointed out character developments and different archetypes.
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