Film

Will Ferrell’s cocky-jock comedies have made him a mint, so it’s no surprise that he helped godfather The Foot Fist Way, a martial-art kick to the funny bone that will tickle some and make others wince. As with most of Ferrell’s movies, audiences with a high tolerance for impetuous heroes and fatuous worldviews will revel in the aggressive idiocy.

The linchpin is Danny McBride, a character actor with scene-stealing roles in everything from tenderhearted indies like All the Real Girls to this summer’s buzz-heavy duo Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express. As bloviating black belt Fred Simmons, head of a small-town tae kwon do training center, he expresses a kind of braggadocio-fueled mediocrity that defines the course of the film. Your enjoyment hinges solely on the pleasure of his company, since there’s not much else to this otherwise paper-thin lark.

What little plot The Foot Fist Way does concern itself with involves Simmons confronting an unfaithful wife while trying to wrangle Z-list chop-socky idol Chuck “The Truck” Wallace (cowriter Best) into appearing before his students. But the movie is more about serving up episode after episode of misguided self-aggrandizement. Those with a yen for foolish grandeur are in for a treat. But don’t be deluded into thinking there’s more in store.