"The Foot Fist Way"

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

At the State Theatre

MTV Films

When Will Ferrell openly endorses a low-budget comedy and plays a large role in getting it released in theaters, it should come as no surprise that the film in question closely resembles one of the famous comedian's own box-office hits. "The Foot Fist Way" may as well have starred Ferrell himself, as it's no different from his comedies like "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (2004) or "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" (2006): It's the charming story of a sleazy career man (in this case a Taekwondo instructor), the people he humiliates and his inevitable nose-dive into self-pity, before, eventually, trying to turn his life around for the better.

Fred Simmons (Danny R. McBride, "All the Real Girls") is the man: He's a world-champion Taekwondo instructor, married to a beautiful blonde bombshell (newcomer Mary Jane Bostic) and has just come into the good graces of B-movie action star Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (co-writer Ben Best). Or at least that's what he'll tell you. In actuality he spends most of his days insulting the young kids he instructs, doesn't know how to prevent his promiscuous wife from sleeping around and has, in fact, unwittingly become the next opponent of Wallace, who challenges him to a fight in front of Simmons's own students.

As we watch this gloriously raunchy character tailspin into self-destruction, we meet an assortment of oddball characters including his much-abused young sidekick Julio (Spencer Moreno) and bizarre friend and cohort Mike (director/co-writer Jody Hill). Can this mustachioed, pot-bellied phoenix rise from the ashes of his pitiful existence with the help of his friends? Will his wife ever stop cheating on him? You'll be surprised by how much you actually care about these things as the film nears its conclusion.

What's even more surprising is that, with its debts well in check, the film still manages to distinguish itself, albeit in an unintentional way.

Like all truly low-budget films, "The Foot Fist Way" is hampered somewhat by its backyard origins, as it tends to resemble a deranged home movie more than an actual film. But film's tackiness is something of a double-edged sword, as it completely sets it apart from the bleached, trimmed and coiffed homogeneity of Hollywood - it's all cowlicks, pimples and beer bellies, as if to say, "This is America, take it or leave it." The actors, the majority of whom have never appeared in a film before, resemble the kind of people you see on a day-to-day basis, for better or worse. For such a ridiculous comedy, a large portion of it feels unabashedly genuine in its presentation of America and the people that populate it. It's oddly affectionate to see such an unaffected portrayal of middle-of-the-road America.

"The Foot Fist Way" has a lot in common with "Napoleon Dynamite" as well, in that it's essentially a string of vignettes tied together by a bare minimum of plot. Because of this, the film feels overlong, and wears out its welcome by the one-hour-mark. It becomes an ordeal by the last 10 or 15 minutes, which is odd for a film that doesn't even clock in at 90.

But there's something optimistic about a little low-budget B-movie that can beat out its Hollywood competitors. Ferrell's last couple of "Anchorman"-style comedies have been stale, to the say the least, so maybe he can use this oddball knock-off as a blueprint for how to tweak his winning