A man is attacked at random on the street. He enlists at a local dojo, led by a charismatic and mysterious Sensei, in an effort to learn how to defend himself.
Jesse Eisenberg has made a career for himself playing quirky, offbeat characters and in many ways, that could be seen as a hindrance. When he tries to do more serious fare like “The Social Network” or “Louder Than Bombs,” we expect to see his eccentric idiosyncrasies but when they don’t materialize, we almost feel let down. While I didn’t care for “The Art of Self-Defense,” Eisenberg is the film’s one saving grace. Well, two actually, Eisenberg and Imogen Poots. While his Casey is a reclusive oddball who prefers the company of his dog to that over people, it actually works to his advantage here because while his quintessential capricious mannerisms are nowhere to be seen, he replaces them with restrained, almost straight-faced line deliveries that harken back to the 1980s classic, “Airplane!,” and I half-expected Leslie Nielsen to appear intermittently.
“The Art of Self-Defense” also brings to mind John McNaughton’s “Mad Dog and Glory,” starring Bill Murray, Robert De Niro, and Uma Thurman. In that film, in a surprising change of scenery, De Niro plays a timid police officer who saves the life of a violent mobster, played by Bill Murray. Director McNaughton infused a lot of comedy throughout but in a flash, the overall tone changed with violent outbursts that you didn’t see coming. “The Art of Self-Defense” follows in its footsteps. Early on we witness some of Casey’s awkward interactions with his co-workers, some genuinely funny exchanges but then just as quickly, we are privy to moments of excessive brutality. The film can never make up its mind as to what it wants to be and suffers as a result.
Casey (Eisenberg) is a mild-mannered man who works at a company in their accounting department. Existing from day to day, one night he walks to the local store to pick up dog food for his pet Dachshund. On his way home, however, he is attacked by a motorcycle gang and winds up in the hospital in serious condition. He slowly regains his health and goes back home and at his manager’s insistence, takes some short-term disability until he fully recovers. With nothing to do at home all day except watch TV, he takes a walk one afternoon and comes across a Karate studio. Wanting to be able to protect himself from any further attacks, he decides to join and immediately, Sensei (Alessandro Nivola), takes a liking to him and takes him under his wing. He attends the day class and with determination and hard work, he goes from a white belt to a yellow belt and takes great pride in his small achievement.
When Sensei decides it would be better for Casey to start attending the night class, he excitedly agrees but on his first night, he witnesses a fight to the death where one of his only friends is killed. He tries to keep his composure but every night, he watches in shock as fighters are put in opposition and end up pummelling each other into the ground, no holds barred. Sensei constantly tells Casey that he needs to stand up for himself and not back down from anyone and as his self-confidence soars, he punches his boss at work, telling him how much he dislikes him and ultimately, is fired. Sensei then offers him a job at the Karate studio, managing the books. Casey happily obliges but as he spends more and more time there, he discovers a horrifying revelation that turns his world upside down and pits him against Sensei, in a fight to the death.
The issue I have with “The Art of Self-Defense” is that it tries to be unflinching in its drama, violence, and comedic elements but that combination is not always easily, or satisfactorily, realized. Watching Casey develop a backbone and standing up for himself at work against his obnoxious and insufferable co-workers is both hilarious and inspiring but in the last act of the movie, where it turns into “Karate Fight Club,” it just can’t keep that level of enthusiasm up. We go from downright hilarious to unequivocal violence in an instant and the jarring contrast is overly disproportionate compared to the rest of the film. It also seemingly takes place in an alternate timeline where people can do things that in our reality, would have consequences for but here, absolutely nothing. “The Art of Self-Defense” tries hard to be quirky and off-the-wall but in the end, winds up as a bombastic and self-applauding piece of celluloid.
In Theaters Friday, July 19th
