Now Playing
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
48 17 Again
76 Adventureland
48 Angels & Demons
54 Battle for Terra
xx Bruno
80 Coraline
40 Dance Flick
83 Drag Me to Hell
72 Earth
45 Fast & Furious
61 Fighting
34 Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
72 Gran Torino
73 Hangover, The
47 Hannah Montana: The Movie
51 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
54 Imagine That
41 Knowing
32 Land of the Lost
56 Monsters vs. Aliens
34 My Life in Ruins
51 My Sister's Keeper
46 Next Day Air
42 Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
54 Observe and Report
25 Obsessed
48 Proposal, The
70 Public Enemies
61 Soloist, The
83 Star Trek
64 State of Play
55 Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The
52 Terminator Salvation
35 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
77 Under the Sea 3D
88 Up
43 X-Men Origins: Wolverine
34 Year One

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

sort by name

sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Foot Fist Way, The
Paramount Vantage


8.5

based on 22 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 6 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Observe and Report

MPAA RATING: R for strong language and some sexual content

Starring Danny R. McBride, Ben Best, and Jody Hill

The Foot Fist Way, an uproarious, full-contact comedy featuring one of this year’s least likely heroes, is the first project from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions. Included in Ain’t It Cool News’ Top 10 Films of 2007, The Foot Fist Way became a sensation at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, as audiences fell in love with the seriously self-deluded Tae Kwon Do instructor Fred Simmons, who talks a big, macho game, but falls to pieces when his wife betrays him. (Paramount Vantage)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Danny R. McBride Jody Hill Ben Best
DIRECTED BY:	Jody Hill
RELEASE DATE:	Theatrical: May 30, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

The result is a comedy that's low budget in all the right ways - so hilarious, testosterone-charged and yet cringe-inducing to watch that the result is almost exhausting.

Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis

Not short on broad physical humor. But Simmons is a brilliantly detailed grotesque capable of withstanding comparison to his most obvious inspiration, Ricky Gervais' "Office" boss David Brent.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

The always thin tightrope between "laughing at" and "laughing with" is negotiated with success in the low-budget comedy The Foot Fist Way.

Film Threat Eric Campos

This is a really small film, shot in 19 days, and it's a little rough around the edges, but it's got a huge comic heart that's undeniable.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

It's all saved by actor Danny McBride, who has created such a distinctive character in Simmons, at once engaging and repulsive, that it's hard not to keep watching even while cringing.

The New York Times Nathan Lee

An itsy-bitsy, ultra-indie, super-silly comedy packing huge laughs and unexpected heart.

USA Today Claudia Puig

A refreshingly silly and clever portrait of a strikingly daft and clueless man.

New York Post Kyle Smith

The movie is so heavily weighted toward the Simmons character that no one else really gets to breathe. And though McBride's shtick is brilliant - he could get rich by playing variations on this character for the next few years, and probably will.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

This hilarious, high-kicking nonsense cost two cents and looks it -- hell, it was shot in 19 days, but you'll laugh helplessly anyway.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A deadpan, dead-on comedy.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

It plays exactly like a Will Ferrell comedy, but better, because Ferrell's not in it.

Variety John Anderson

The character of Fred Simmons is a Cliff Clavin-esque sensei deluxe in The Foot Fist Way, a low-budget, low-flying farce a la "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Jackass: The Movie."

Village Voice Robert Wilonsky

Truthfully, The Foot Fist Way is no different from an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm": This is irritainment, something you snicker at while covering your eyes, praying that this guy never gets loose in the real world, when, in fact, he's your next-door neighbor. Or you.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

This scrappy, ultra-low budget comedy, made in 19 days for $70,000 by North Carolina School of the Arts graduates Jody Hill, Danny McBride and Ben Best, comes with its own Cinderella tale: It debuted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival but failed to find distribution until comedian Will Ferrell and his business partner, Adam McKay, championed it.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

It's more amusing than not, but some scenes outlast the humor in them.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

There are enough droll moments to spark cult status, and McBride's commitment is impressive.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Trouble is, the gags just keep finding new ways to make McBride's strip-mall sensei seem pathetic, and the few scattered laughs never justify the cruelty.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Children should not be allowed within a mile of this film, but it will appeal to "Jackass" fans and other devotees of the joyously ignorant.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The film itself suggests a sketch video on Ferrell and McKay's "Funny or Die" website, padded out to the dimensions of a character comedy.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

By the time Foot Fist limps to its ultimate fighting climax, you'll likely wish you had double-teamed "Game of Death" and "Waiting for Guffman" instead.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Staggers and wanders and feels far longer than its 85 minutes, and it's best considered a calling card for better things to come.

Washington Post Gabe Oppenheim

Fails to generate a real plot, and the awkward moments work better in a context of adolescence. Quirk isn't funny when accompanied by adultery and brutality -- though a couple of lines zing.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Art B. gave it a10:
This movie was hilarious! I watched it again after just seeing it.

Jay H. gave it a6:
It hits the mark more than it misses it, and Danny Mc Bride is terrific and has the character down pat. It has some really funny moments but it does wear thin after awhile.

C.B. gave it a7:
For the most part, it's a bad, poorly made movie. But Danny McBride is fantastic. This will be a cult classic, and people will be repeating his lines for years to come...

Steve S. gave it an8:
I enjoyed this movie, though you have to be able to empathize with a protagonist who is kind of a jerk.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

Foot Fist Way, The Paramount Vantage

Foot Fist Way, The
Paramount Vantage