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Fist Fight - Movie Review

ImFrancoBosco ImFrancoBosco They extended an SNL skit to a full feature length movie! Oh wait, that's just Fist Fight. How well does this raunchy comedy hold up? Let's break it down.

Fist Fight is directed by Richie Keen, starring Charlie Day and Ice Cube as two teachers working in a very, rambunctious high school on the last day of class. As the students continue to pull pranks on the staff, Ice Cube’s hostile character is rubbed the wrong way by Charlie Day’s squirmy, pushover character and challenges him to a fight in the school parking lot after school at 3pm.

If you’ve seen any snippet of this movie from a commercial to the trailer, you know what kind of movie you’re in for. A 90-minute R-rated, over-the-top, raunchy comedy. There’s only one real question to ask going into a film like this. Is it any funny?

I have to say, yes it is funny. However, it’s funny only a handful of times. For an hour and a half, while I did find a couple of solid, good laughs, I ultimately couldn’t get behind most of this script’s comical material.

The film actually does have a fairly stacked, competent cast of comedians. All the actors involved have shown in multiple platforms that they can be very funny. Charlie Day is a great, rising, improv actor as shown in his FX TV show, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. However, I do believe he’s better in smaller doses in a supporting role rather than a lead role of a film. Otherwise, he’s just frantically screaming his lines and that can get somewhat repetitive as shown in this flick.

Ice Cube has proven to be not only a great comedian, but a fine actor as well. Even if Cube is playing the same, aggressive, angry character that he has in the past, he does still own the screen when he’s present. He’s the comedy muscle of this movie. A lot of the jokes that work and hit well, come from his delivery as expected.

Unfortunately, the majority of this comedy flick just comes off flat or just simply awkward at times. It’s great to see Tracy Morgan get work these days, he’s basically in this film just to talk and curse with his “Tracy Morgan” voice just for the sake of being in a comedy. While someone like Jillian Bell gets too much screen time in this case, delivering some very odd lines that will make yourself question even be chuckling at that joke.

Final Take

I will give the movie credit for not backing out when it comes to the actual fist fight between the leads. That segment was surprisingly a lot of fun and with no pun-intended, it is hard-hitting comedy. Overall, the movie is a mixed bag of comedy. In my opinion, I wasn’t as thrilled with the film coming out of the theater, but I wasn’t as disappointed when I left it either. Fist Fight is just a fine, disposable comedy that anyone can find some enjoyment in.

I’m going to give Fist Fight a “C-” on the movie grading scale. If it were me, I would wait until this movie is in the Redbox or on Netflix, no need to rush out and see it. I couldn’t help but feel this comedy would have made for a good SNL skit than a feature length film in the end.

As always, thanks so much for reading and make sure to stay posted to Frank’s Takes for more reviews. Until next time, keep it 100.

-Frank

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