Parents' Guide to Fist Fight

"Teachers behaving badly" is a classic comedy premise that often works, but this movie's toxic take on masculinity and logical plot holes ruin the funny. It could have been amusing to have one unhinged teacher threatening another with mild violence. And Ice Cube and Day (whom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia fans know as Charlie Kelly) are charming enough to have carried it off. But Fist Fight goes way, way, waaaaay over the top. Strickland, who early on in the movie destroys a student's wooden desk with an axe before threatening Campbell with it, is a terrifying potential rival who promises that the fight won't end until someone is unconscious. Plus, everyone in the movie seems to view Strickland's challenge to Campbell as some sort of lighthearted test of Campbell's masculinity. He's urged no fewer than six times to "man up" or to not be a "little b---h" or a "p---y" and go ahead and fight the guy (who's twice his size), already.

So there's that sour note, plus an assorted dozen doughnuts of other problems, too. As if a vicious fight wasn't high enough stakes, the confrontation is scheduled to take place at the same time that Campbell's supposed to be doing a school talent show act with his young daughter (on the last day of school? Really?). Spoiler alert: He doesn't make it. Then he does, and the daughter foils her mean-girl bully by performing an expletive-laden song. Wow, the F-word. That'll really make those bullies pay. Then there are non-funny jokes about the school guidance counselor (Jillian Bell), apparently a meth connoisseur who has the hots for the senior boys ... yikes. If only this absurd comedy had a core of sweetness instead of a desire to shock. A few of the jokes do land. But if you have a heart, the meanness makes it harder to laugh.