Timid accountant Casey Davies (Jesse Eisenberg) is attacked on the street one night when out buying food for his dachshund. Robbed of his self esteem and looking for a way to regain it he walks into a karate dojo in a  strip mall run by a man we will only know as Sensei (Alessandro Nivola). 

If you took the original The Karate Kid story and then corrupted its feel good message by crossing it with the satirical attack on toxic masculinity within Fight Club you might find yourself with the pitch black comedy of The Art Of Self Defence. 

When we first meet Casey he struggles to hold a conversation with the alpha males in the break room at work. He even photocopies the hilariously over the top magazine one of them is reading whose title is simply the glyph for male as an attempt to understand their ways. As his sensei manipulates him with his dojo rules and lessons he turns into the alpha in the room and demands they do push ups. Jesse Eisenberg is perfect for the role, eschewing his normal stuttering he is able to sale the transformation really well. 

The other side of this coin is the manipulative Sensei played by Alessandro Nivola. A man who commands respect from his students whilst explaining to them how to be more masculine. He even laments the fact that he has a female student in Anna (Imogen Poots) because he realises she can never be a man. 

The dialogue is brilliantly stilted and on the nose. Characters state the obvious in an earnestly serious way, including Casey’s answering machine. Whilst the belts mean so much to them that when they stumble upon the idea of wearing normal belts the same colour as their karate belts they are all overwhelmed with joy. 

Plaudits to writer/director Riley Stearns for delivering an absurdist comedy that pays homage to two very different films about men fighting.