Back in the 90’s, one of the
movies I saw during my regular HBO binging sessions was an 80’s teen movie
called Three O’Clock High. It’s about a meek high school student named
Jerry who inadvertently pisses off a new student named Buddy, who happens to be
a bully. As a result, Buddy challenges
Jerry into a fight after school – 3 o’clock – at the parking lot, and the news
spread across the student body. Jerry
then spends the next six hours trying different ways to avoid it, including
reasoning, running, and bribery. However,
in the end, he finally gets fed up with how pathetic he is, mans up, and
decides to fight Buddy. In the
aftermath, Jerry earns the respect of Buddy.
Well, the premise and plot
structure of Three O’Clock High is
very similar to this 2017 comedy film called Fist Fight. But instead of
high school students, the fight is between two high school teachers –
mild-mannered English teacher Andy Campbell (Charlie Day) and ferocious
History teacher Ron Strickland (Ice Cube). Set in a delinquent, underfunded
high school undergoing downsizing, teachers like Andy are constantly disrespected
and pulled pranks on by the students. Ron, due to his fearsome personality
and readiness for violence, is the only teacher capable of intimidating them to
behave. But after Andy tells the
principal about the Ron’s recent outburst, the latter challenges the former to a fist fight after school – an event that quickly becomes “viral”
across the student body and beyond. Andy
then spends the day trying different ways to avoid it, but, in the end, decides
to man up and fight Ron. In the
aftermath, Andy earns the respect of Ron.
Yep, this movie is practically a Three O’Clock High rip-off. Though Fist
Fight has some additional subplots and dynamics, the general arc is
essentially the same. There are even beat-for-beat moments in it that make it all but certain that either the
director or the writer – or both – had based this movie on Three O’Clock High.
There are chuckles here and
there. But nothing notably
hilarious. If you are familiar with
their past works, well, the jokes are pretty much what you would expect from
cast members Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan, and Jillian Bell.
In the end, Fist Fight is a serviceable, run-of-the-mill comedy. Three
O’Clock High just did its thing better, though.
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