Fist Fight

A comic twist on school bullies, in which Ice Cube's angry (and recently fired) history teacher challenges his mild-mannered colleague Charlie Day to a playground scrap, blaming him for his dismissal. Fearing a severe beating at the hands of a much bigger man, Day enlists fellow faculty members and a manipulative student to help him avoid the showdown. Television director Richie Keen (It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia) makes the transition from small to big screen with ease, his experience of episodic comedy keeping a tight rein on proceedings, but it's the sharp gags of writers Van Robichaux and Evan Susser that move the story along at a rattling pace. Central to making the whole work, however, is Day's precision comic timing, his timid teacher's "Is this actually happening?" schtick drawing on Woody Allen and Jerry Seinfeld. As football coach and guidance counsellor respectively, Tracy Morgan (30 Rock) and Jillian Bell (Idiotsitter) get to deliver a generous share of the laughs with panache.