Director; Paul Leyden. Starring; Malin Ackerman, Bella Thorne, Alec Baldwin. Rated R. Color. 98 minutes.
Picture the late 90’s movie “Fight Club”. It is considered a classic. Could not tell you why as its message is top to bottom B.S. and the twist ending makes literally no sense if you think for just a few seconds what happened previously. Now picture a movie with a similar concept that has fun, centers around women, and does not try to pull off some stupid meta concept about corporate America being shitty. Enter director Paul Leyden’s “Chick Fight”, an excellent piece of silly popcorn entertainment that never takes things too seriously.
Malin Ackerman stars as Anna, a woman who’s life has not lived up to what a person’s expectations would be in adulthood. Her car is repossessed during the opening credits, her coffee shop is an absolute bust, and she has a daily routine that involves the mourning of her recently deceased mother. She is a woman floating through life.
To make matters even more complicated, Anna discovers that her father Ed (Kevin Nash) has been hiding his homosexuality for years and is now out and about with his Asian partner Chuck (Alec Mapa). Hashtag complicated. Nearing the end of the line, Anna’s best friend Charleen (Dolce Sloan), a feisty police officer, is ready to get the girl in her mid-thirties back on track. You would think it would be say getting her back into the dating game in a formulaic comedy like this. Nope. Charleen shows Anna a secret underground club where women enter a UFC style octagon and throw down. Talk about women getting ‘catty’.
At first Anna is terrible. Throwing fists is not exactly the easiest thing in the world to jump into. Then she meets the top bitch, emphases on ‘BITCH’, Olivia (Bella Thorne). She is like one of those plastic chicks from high school except she will rip your damn head off. Olivia’s got a problem with Anna, and the only way to settle the beef is in the ring. Terrified by the potential of facing off against this menace, Charleen hands Anna over to a washed-up drunk named Murphy (Alec Baldwin) in order to get the proper training for the upcoming showdown. The process is a total mess at first of course as a middle aged deadbeat and an old drunk are trying to come together and succeed. But somehow, they pull it off. Anna is ready for the fight of her life.
“Chick Fight” is by no means perfect. It is incredibly cliche and some of the dialogue is just plain awful. Star Malin Ackerman is not bad, but I mean she’s simply just ‘not bad’. Yet there is still a lot to love about this picture. Poppa Ed and his newly revealed gay lifestyle comes with plenty of great jokes without being offensive. The fights in the ring are well choreographed as well with the right amount of slow motion sprinkled in. And finally, Alec Baldwin is as always great at being Alec Baldwin, albeit a bit drunker version of himself. “Chick Fight” will certainly not blow your mind, but it is a fun piece of mindless entertainment. Give it up for GIRL POWER!!!
Greg Squared Films 