CLEVELAND, Ohio — The new comedy “Fist Fight,” which is about an epic throw-down between two teachers, has one foot on either side of the thin line between humor and good taste. You’ll laugh, but you’ll hate yourself in the morning.
The movie is a remake of a forgotten 1980s teen comedy that was released before reports of school violence filled our news feeds. The mayhem in “Fist Fight” doesn’t involve guns, but the image of an angry teacher destroying a desk with an ax in front of frightened students is still upsetting.
At a time when we’re trying to teach our kids to peacefully resolve differences, do we need a movie about two grown men who think that trading punches is the only way to settle a beef?
It all starts on the last day of school, when teachers’ nerves are rattled by seniors who have squirted baby oil on a hallway floor, set a drug-addled horse loose in the hallways and bedazzled the principal’s car.
Mild-mannered English teacher Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) falls afoul of fearsome history teacher Ron Strickland (Ice Cube) when he tells the principal the truth about Strickland’s ax-wielding episode.
Strickland loses his job, and labels the much-smaller Campbell as a snitch who deserves a beating. Strickland vows to fight Campbell at the end of the school day, and news of the rumble spreads faster than your thumbs can type #teacherfight.
Campbell desperately tries various schemes to get out of the fight, while sweating over a job interview and his performance in his daughter’s talent show.
REVIEW
Fist Fight
Who: With Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Christina Hendricks and Tracy Morgan. Directed by Richie Keen.
Rated: R (for language throughout, sexual content/nudity and drug material).
Running time: 91 minutes.
When: Opens Friday.
Where: Area theaters.
Grade: C+
“Fist Fight” is very funny, largely because of how Day (television’s “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) flails his way through situations; he played a similar kind of bumbling character in the comedies “Horrible Bosses” and its 2014 sequel. Day also plays it straight in comical scenes with horny counselor Jillian Bell (“Workaholics”), football coach Tracy Morgan (“30 Rock”) and security guard Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley”).
The intensity that Cube (“21 Jump Street,” “xXx: Return of Xander Cage”) projects earns laughs, but it bothered me to see him in a role that plays on stereotypes of black men as brutal and violent. Supposedly, Strickland glowers and growls because he cares, but surely a man smart enough to be a teacher is also smart enough to resolve differences with words, not fists.
The strong cast includes Christina Hendricks (“Mad Men”) and Dean Norris (“Breaking Bad’). Kym Whitley (TV’s “Young and Hungry”), who grew up in Shaker Heights, is hilarious in a brief appearance as a 911 operator.
“Fist Fight’s” humor hits the sweet spot for middle-schoolers, but the movie’s much-deserved R rating – for copious use of profanity, drug use and sexual content – will keep out the kids who would really appreciate seeing a school descending into chaos.
Maybe it’s best that “Fist Fight’s” audience is confined to those who will laugh without taking its “lessons” as a life guide. Peace out.
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