The Art of Self Defense Parent Guide

Casey Davies (Jessie Eisenberg) is the stereotypical wimp. He’s a meek, awkward accountant with no friends, few hobbies, and even less self esteem. After he is mugged and brutally beaten on his way to pick up more dog food for his dachshund, Casey enrolls in a karate class so he’ll be able to defend himself in future. There he learns from Sensei (Alessandro Nivola) how to kick with his fists and punch with his feet, how to earn his own respect, and how to listen to heavy metal.

The Art of Self Defense is a strange movie. Dark comedies are typically niche films to start with, and this one steers aggressively into that small market. The comedy is delivered in an awkward deadpan style, which definitely plays to Jessie Eisenberg’s strengths, but does make the film less appealing to a broader audience. Eisenberg does a fine job portraying his fastidious and socially disjointed character and the rest of the cast are also excellent. Sadly, the comedy in the film seems unusually muted. There are clearly a lot of jokes, and while I could see the humor in most of them, there wasn’t enough there to get a real laugh. Comedy is highly personal, so maybe I’m the odd man out here, but it seemed as if the jokes were being deliberately undersold. Where another recent dark comedy, The Dead Don’t Die, steered hard into absurdity and millennial fatalism, The Art of Self Defense seems unwilling to take the last few steps to give its jokes the force they need to land properly.

For me, the highlight of the movie was its running commentary on the inherently ridiculous nature of the “masculine” behaviors society expects from men. Casey is told, for example, that his preference for “adult contemporary” music is effeminate, and that he should start listening to heavy metal. His dachshund is too small and weak; he should upgrade to a German shepherd. His interest in France makes him prone to surrendering; he should start learning Russian or German instead. The absurd push for the most masculine or aggressive version of his life forms the basis of a lot of the jokes in the film and highlights the ridiculousness of society’s conception of what a man should be.

While the violence and profanity are milder than I expected, there are a lot of sexual references that many audiences will find distasteful, including the repeated use of topless photos from “gentlemen’s magazines”. Even though they’re used jokingly, they do render the film unsuitable for family audiences.

While I’m not unhappy with this production overall, I feel like it missed an opportunity to be much funnier than it turned out to be. There are similar comedies which are more amusing and less offensive and which I’d rather watch. If only the film had taken the art of filmmaking as seriously as it had taken the art of self-defense, it might have pulled off some good hits. As is, the movie lacks the punch to succeed in a competitive market.