The Art of Self-Defense (2019)

(On Cable TV, April 2020) There’s a deliberately awkward meeting between Fight Club and the anxious generation in writer-director Riley Stearns’s The Art of Self-Defense. Jesse Eisenberg temporarily steps away from his alpha-nerd persona to take on a nebbish accountant who ends up joining a dojo for self-defence. The protagonist’s suffering through the first half of the film is gradually transformed into a more disturbing aggressivity throughout the film’s second half. While billed as a comedy, The Art of Self-Defense is more excruciating than funny—it’s strikingly unpleasant to watch even with the dark humour, off-kilter tone and ironically upbeat conclusion. It does get better toward the end, as the comedy clicks and the inevitable conclusion plays out—but it’s still not a walk through the park. Eisenberg eventually proves himself the single best choice for the role, but we may ask—to what purpose? The examination of aggressive, toxic masculinity is not really enhanced by any subtle point, or countered through humour: it’s just there, blatant and unenlightening. Fans of cringe comedy may get more out of it, but The Art of Self-Defense will either bore or repel most viewers.