It's official: I am a Danny McBride fan: "The Foot Fist Way"

Hey, I don't make such proclamations lightly. You know about Paul Rudd. Who else is in that rare air? Not sure. Nic Cage before he got all weird?

Anyway, after his slightly amusing bit in "Drillbit Taylor," I really took notice of McBride in "Tropic Thunder." ("Big a$$ titties!") Fantastic in a small role. Then came something meatier in "Pineapple Express." Oh, it was so on. Best thing in that movie. I still crack up thinking about him saying "that's your loss because I'm a great friend" and "You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos, motherf*cker!"

So yeah, I was pumped for "The Foot Fist Way," the small independent movie that came out a few years ago and got some notice last year after Will Ferrell raved about it. McBride plays Fred Simmons, who runs the local tae kwon do studio and is generally an a$$hole. Saying he gets off being the top black belt is like saying Andy Dick is a little odd. Fred lives for the dojo, and anyone who doesn't respect that doesn't get the time of day from him.

There really isn't much that goes on here. Fred runs into marital problems with his curvy blonde wife. Then he encounters his idol, a karate guy who stars in bad movies. Both of these developments spill over to the dojo, with hilarious results. Really, the movie is an excuse to have this unappealing yet fascinating character -- not so different from David Brent (Ricky Gervais) in the British version of "The Office" -- deal with crisis in his sad little life. You simply can't look away.

Other than wishing McBride had the same mullet as in "Thunder," I'm not sure there's anything I didn't like about "Foot Fist." Even when it looked like the movie might go soft at the end, Fred delivers a deadly putdown. I laughed out loud. It wasn't the only time.