Review – Fist Fight

The whole movie of Fist Fight revolves around a fight between funny guy Charlie Day and tough guy Ice Cube, two men who couldn’t be more opposite.  We know that this brawl is going to occur at the end of the movie, so how does the movie survive until then?  First, it needs compelling characters that we care about.  It also needs a strong second act filled with actions and development that keep the movie afloat until the big climax, which in this case, is the fight.

Does Fist Fight succeed in this aspect?  Kind of.  The movie has some funny moments and some great side characters, but it veers heavily towards ridiculousness and cliché through out and features uninspired characters.

In an insane, chaotic high school on the final day of the school year, Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) witnesses the angry Strickland (Ice Cube) using an axe to destroy a student’s desk.  Subsequently, Campbell narcs on Strickland, causing him to get fired and Campbell keeping his job.  Strickland then challenges Campbell to a fight after school, which causes a social media storm through out the school and forces Campbell to do everything in his power to not fight the enraged Strickland.

Day and Cube are a perfect pairing for this movie.  The guys could not be more opposite and that causes a hilarious dynamic between the two.  Day’s high-pitch yelling and Cube’s scowl are in full force in this one.  They both get their opportunity to drop some one-liners, even though most of Cube’s are typical Ice Cube tropes from other moments in his career like, “Fuck the police.” and “You got knocked the fuck out!”  Their characters, as a whole aren’t anything special and are rather formulaic.  I got more of a kick out of the supporting characters, like Kristina Hendricks’s butterfly knife-wielding teacher, or Jillian Bell’s hilarious, meth-using counselor who wants to have sex with any senior she sees, or Kumail Nanjiani’s school security officer who insists on working only in school hours and only doing specific tasks.  These characters got most of the laughs from me.

Right from the opening shot of the school, where a Senior is wearing a shirt that says, “I’m a Senior.  Fuck you.”, I was immediately turned off by the ridiculousness.  It is the last day of school and it is senior prank day, which added more shenanigans into the mix, but what these kids were doing was so unrealistic it felt forced and dumb.  Some of the pranks were funny, like having a Mariachi band follow around the principal all day, or gluing everything on a desk together.  But the overall vulgarity, stupidity, and impossibility of these pranks got real old real quick.

The movie has a tone issue as well.  Within all the comedy, and their is plenty of comedy to be had, there is a weird message and some side stories that are a bit jarring.  There is a scene that comes out of the blue where Campbell starts yelling about the budgets of schools and the importance of education and this message, though important, didn’t belong in this movie.  There is also a prison scene and a talent show scene that show the movie really jumped the shark.

Fist Fight is a relatively funny movie with a climactic fight that really pays off.  But, with an over-the-top high school scenario, uninspired characters, and tonally weird messages and scenes, Fist Fight barely leaves a mark on the comedy genre.

MY RATING – 2.5/4

Did you see Fist Fight?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.