The Art of Self-Defense

2019 • 104 minutes

About this movie

Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) just can't seem to win. Attacked on the street, humiliated at his job and even emasculated by his dog, he joins a local karate dojo led by the enigmatic Sensei (Alessandro Nivola) to learn how to defend himself. In the midst of his training, Casey becomes friendly with a female instructor (Imogen Poots) and soon realizes he is caught in a bizarre world of outcasts, fraternal rituals and hilarious hyper-masculinity.

Ratings and reviews

This isn't a movie for most people very dark and challenging to watch. Everyone is psychopathic and the movie was extremely predictable out of the gate. No laughs, a little mild a amusement. Still an interesting concept that some might enjoy, I guess I did enjoy it but I doubt I'll ever watch it again. I think I'll now watch Kill Me Three Times, I need a laugh after that.

An SJW-feminist's idea of what men must be like (spoiler, they're all either psychopaths or incels; no other options are made available in this movie).

Awful. Think it tried too hard to be indie. Its like Kill Bill 2 meets Dynamite. No idea how the RotToms is so high. More like at 15%