Back when I was in high school, I always wondered if teachers ever got into fights with each other in the break room. There were always rumors of teachers who didnโt like each other, and there were the ones who took that dislike to another level. I canโt say that I ever saw a fight break out between teachers in a parking lot, but as I watched Ice Cube and Charlie Day in Fist Fight, I wished that I had.
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When I saw Fist Fight, a teacher-vs.-teacher comedy directed by Richie Keen from a script by Van Robichaux, I needed a fucking laugh. I had just watched the news, and there was Donald Trumpโs face again. I wanted to punch it. And punch it hard. I was like Ice Cubeโs character, Mr. Ron Strickland: angry. So what better way to spend an evening out than to watch a movie about two teachers who hate each other so much, it drives them to have an all-out brawl in the parking lot on the last day of school? Sure, this probably wouldnโt happen in real life. But itโs a movie, so it happened.
Fist Fight stars Ice Cube as Strickland, a teacher who is basically fed up with the system, the school year, the budget cuts and the students, as well as his colleague Mr. Andy Campbell (Charlie Day). Campbell, who is stressed about losing his job to budget cuts, crosses Strickland at the wrong time and wrong place and is accused of getting Strickland fired. When Strickland declares war and tells Campbell to meet him in the courtyard on the last day of school, he isnโt joking.
Day and Cube arenโt the only people in this high school who make the movie funny as hell. Thereโs Jillian Bellโs character, high school guidance counselor Holly, who likes meth and doesnโt mind talking about her desires for male students. Then thereโs Christina Hendricks as Miss Monet, a knife-loving sadistic teacher who has the hots for Strickland. Letโs not forget Tracy Morgan, the gym teacher who doesnโt even realize that his students are up to no good. Morganโs character, Coach Freddie Coward, is goofy and just not that bright, but it makes for a few laughs, especially when Morganโs longtime bit about getting someone pregnant is thrown into the script.
Some of the funniest moments come from Bell, whose deadpan humor is perfection and makes you forget her characterโs trying to sex up her male students. Day and Cubeโs chemistry on-screen, even though they beat each other to a pulp, is reminiscent of The Odd Coupleโs Oscar and Felix. They hate each other, but in the end they realize they have more in common than they think.
Just imagine a John Hughes high school film set in the present day with social media, teachers going buck wild and jokes that probably wouldnโt fly if real teachers were handing them out. Fist Fight isnโt for the faint of heart; by โfaint of heart,โ I mean those who prefer their humor โnice.โ And in our current times, although you canโt walk around punching people you despise in the face, the movie will make you not think about whatโs going on in the newsโat least for 91 minutes.
Take a look at my interview with the cast below:
And a funny moment with Tracy Morgan:
Fist Fight is now playing in theaters nationwide.
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