If you ever wanted to see two grown men employed as high school teachers take swings at each other in the parking lot after school, then Fist Fight is your very specific dream come true. Ice Cube and Charlie Day prepare to do just that in the new comedy from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia director Richie Keen that hails from 21 Laps Entertainment. The first trailer is now available, so we wanted to bring it to your attention as soon as possible. We'll have our thoughts up shortly.
Also starring Tracy Morgan in his first film role since his tragic car accident, the ensemble includes Jillian Bell, Christina Hendricks, JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Dean Norris, Kumail Nanjiani and Dennis Haysbert, Fist Fight debuts February 17, 2017.
Watch the first trailer for Fist Fight below:
In speaking with USA Today, director Keen said the film reminded him of "a rated-R John Hughes movie to me." The official synopsis is as follows:
On the last day of the year, mild-mannered high school English teacher Andy Campbell (Day) is trying his best to keep it together amidst senior pranks, a dysfunctional administration and budget cuts that put jobs on the line. But things go from bad to worse when he accidentally crosses his much tougher and deeply feared colleague, Ron Strickland (Ice Cube), who challenges Campbell to an old-fashioned throw down after school. News of the fight spreads like wildfire and ends up becoming the very thing this school, and Campbell, needed.
Keen continued: “The truth of the matter is at this public high school on a very chaotic day, neither of their philosophies are working. And this fight becomes a bigger metaphor for the system and things needing to change.”
Day also commented on his earnest character--“I get to be a little bit more of a straight man in a sea of crazy people."--and his attempts to weasel out of the fight: "Because of the pressure cooker of time, that uphill battle gets intensified."
Some of the other casting was also revealed, such as Norris playing the principal and target of senior pranks, Bell playing a drug-using guidance counselor (in a gender-swapped role from the original script) who has an inappropriate interest in a student, Nanjiani as a security guard whose principles won't allow him to intervene in the fight, and Hendricks as a mild-mannered yet saucy French teacher.
