'Foot Fist Way'

The visual style resembles a grainy home movie, the protagonist is an arrogant nerd and the story seems to have been made up on the spot. Still, there are some delicious, mean-spirited snickers. The rambunctious do-it-yourself comedy made in 19 days for $70,000 is the first film distributed by Will Ferrell, who undoubtedly recognized a kindred comic sensibility. Fred Simmons, the tae kwon do king of Concord, N.C. (played with beefy cluelessness by co-writer Danny McBride), is just the sort of pompous boob Ferrell has built his career playing. The film is chaotic and self-indulgent, but so modest that you're inclined to forgive it.

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  • Colin Covert

'Stuck' a dark depraved turn

In this fact-based, black-on-black comedy from Stuart Gordon, Tom (Stephen Rea) is hit by the car driven by Brandi (Mina Suvari), who parks the badly injured man in her garage, sticking through her windshield, while she goes about her weekend. Based on the true case of Texan Chante Mallard, "Stuck" is suspenseful, grotesque and may make you wonder why anyone thought it had to be made. But it is absorbingly macabre. If "Jerry Springer" wasn't enough to convince audiences of the depths of human depravity, "Stuck" should do the job.

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  • John Anderson, Newsday