Ice Cube, in probably the fourth or fifth itineration of his long and varied career, has for the last couple of years settled into a niche as a comedy performer, usually paired with one particular rival or sometimes two of them at once. He was opposite Kevin Hart in the two Ride Along films, and was the two cops’ boss in the two 21 Jump Street movies (driven to madness in the second one by Jonah Hill dating his daughter)
Cube’s next on-screen foe is going to be Charlie Day, the longtime It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star who also co-starred in the two Horrible Bosses movies. The pair are appearing in Fist Fight, a comedy slated for release early next year - in which the two men play rival teachers who agree to fight one another after school. We now have our first look at this 2017 release.
The film, directed by Always Sunny veteran Richie Keen, has its first trailer and poster, giving us a look at an anarchic comedy, with a strong supporting cast, that shows adult men behaving very badly.
The trailer hints at a film similar in plot and tone to the HBO series Vice Principals, with two adult men in a school setting acting more childish than any of their students. The trailer depicts an entire school, on the last day of the year, preparing for the clash between two teachers, the tough Cube and the nervous Day. There’s also glimpses of an impressive supporting cast, with Tracy Morgan, Dean Norris, Jillian Bell and Christina Hendricks all showing up. It also resurrects the 1990s movie trailer trope of using the opera anthem “O Fortuna.”
You can check out the poster for Fist Fight, below:
Does Fist Fight look worthwhile? The same premise just sustained an entire, very entertaining season of television on Vice Principals, and Cube and Day have both been very funny in this sort of scenario. That supporting cast, too, is quite impressive, and audiences may be in the mood for a light comedy after the December prestige season.
The worry, though, is that this premise will fall easily into racial caricature and stereotyping which, even if its not offensive, can come across as hacky. And one might hazard a guess, even six months out from Fight Fist’s release, that the film will end with the two men being friends and/or joining forces against some common enemy, instead.
Fist Fight hits U.S. theaters on February 17th, 2017
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures
- Fist Fight Release Date: 2017-02-17
