Here's the background on this movie: Jody Hill, the director, made this film on a very low budget, a la Kevin Smith and "Clerks". Somehow, a copy of the movie got to Will Ferrell, who loved it so much he bought the rights and got a distribution deal. Fred Simmons (Danny McBride) is a Tae Kwon Do instructor who has some trouble applying the eastern philosophies of the martial arts to his own life. He is a crude guy in a bad marriage, who idolizes Hollywood martial artist Chuck "The Truck" Wallace (Ben Best). The movie certainly makes the case that you should never meet your heroes as "The Truck" turns out to be quite the Hollywood mess: women and drugs are what he lives for and he is not exactly the best human being. The movie takes you on a journey with Simmons as his life gets more and more messy until he can figure a way to turn it around. McBride is pretty funny as Simmons and Best as "The Truck" is definitely someone you love to hate, but the movie itself doesn't completely work. Unlike "Clerks", the low budget actually becomes a bit of a distraction as some of the acting doesn't quite cut it and the production value looks sort of like a porn movie. There are a few really funny sequences, in particular the hotel room party with Chuck "The Truck", but it is not funny enough most of the time. Perhaps the appeal to Will Ferrell is that the character of Simmons is just the type of cocky jackass that Ferrell has made a career out of playing, so he must have related to it. Grade: C-
Trailer:
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