Review: Fist Fight
"Something's funnier than it should be," Charlie Day's Andy Campbell observes in the early stages of Fist Fight, a rambunctious comedy that isn't as funny as it thinks it is. A riff on the Western showdown classic High Noon, veteran TV director Richie Keen's feature film debut has its moments but this is a thin premise that would have been more effective as the B story in a half-hour sitcom.
It's the last day of school at Roosevelt High, which apparently means mass firings for the disgruntled teaching body, who also have to contend with the traditional Senior Prank Day. This year promises to be an epic one with a horse hopped up on meth and a Mariachi band stalking the principal thrown into the usual mix of pornographic material peppering dry-erase boards, football fields, and whatever other available space is at the students' disposal. The combination of job insecurity and the kids' hijinks have pushed the teachers to the breaking point - though one could easily argue that most, if not all, of these overburdened instructors aren't exactly sound of mind to begin with - so they all make a vow to stick together.
Naturally the vow is quickly broken when mild-mannered English teacher Campbell snitches on fellow teacher Mr. Strickland (Ice Cube), a scowl-faced disciplinarian who takes a fire-axe to a student's desk as a result of one of the pranks. Incensed at losing his job, Mr. Strickland challenges Campbell to a - you guessed it - fist fight after school. The students can't wait for the throwdown. Campbell, unsurprisingly, spends his potential remaining hours of existence trying to find a way to get out of the fight so he can live to see his daughter's school recital.
Most of the talented cast is wasted - Tracy Morgan and Kumail Nanjiani go about their usual business, Jillian Bell manages to wring some laughs out of playing a guidance counselor who would do well to stop lusting after the teens, and Christina Hendricks sashays in and out of scenes as a French teacher with a taste for danger. The two leads do their best to sell the flimsy material, but they're nothing more than reliable. Reliability is not a bad thing - it can at times be quite a strong asset - but, in this case, reliable means that they're mostly running in place with Fist Fight the comedic equivalent of white noise.
Fist Fight
Directed by: Richie Keen
Written by: Van Robichaux, Evan Susser
Starring: Ice Cube, Charlie Day, Tracy Morgan, Jillian Bell, Dean Norris, Christina Hendricks, Kumail Nanjiani, Dennis Haysbert
