Casey (Jesse Eisenberg) is a mild-mannered accountant who gets bullied. He opts to take karate lessons to defend himself. He joins an unorthodox class that is at times cruel and sadistic. The leader tells him his first name is "Sensei" (Alessandro Nivola). The founder died being shot in the face with bird shot, mistaken for a bird.

The film has a lot of dry humor making fun of karate films and culture. It needed a laugh track because it seems to have missed its mark.

Guide: F-word. No sex. Magazine and male nudity.

I totally understand if some are not even remotely smitten by how akward and weird this movie is. This may come off as a bit of a Karate Kid/Cobra Kai ripoff or something that wants to take advantage of the fact the show gained so much popularity. But while I didn't do any research on how this came to fruition, I am very confident that this very adult take on Self Defense works even without the other show in mind. Now when I say adult, I mean that this is quite violent and quite graphic with that violence at points. So while there is some male nudity in this, I am not referring to anything sexual regarding the adult part. But that is another thing: While I reckon it is predictable when it comes to where the characters stand or where the story goes (at some point you'll figure it out),it is told with such great affection and such great attention to detail, that if you dig it, you will love it to the core! This really holds up the tone it sets from beginning to the end. Something not all movies are capable of doing. Especially in the strange/weird category. I would have wanted to have watched this in a cinema, but finding this little gem on a streaming plattform isn't that bad either. Not for the faint hearted or the easily offended ... but everyone else should give it a go.

I'd have to agree with the DVD sleeve for this movie describing it as original and creative. For a film involving martial arts, it doesn't follow the standard type formula found in say, "The Karate Kid". No endless 'wax on, wax off' to make karate movements second nature, or the respect one is expected to have when undertaking martial arts for the first time. Hopefully, this doesn't give the sport a bad name, as the themes explored are diametrically opposed to what I think one would find being taught by most dedicated instructors today. Jesse Eisenberg was well cast here as the milquetoast sort of individual who tries to improve himself by taking up an art outside of his comfort zone, although I couldn't relate to his character being thirty six years old, even if that's his actual age when he made the picture. It's a bit difficult to categorize the film, not exactly parody or satire, and not exactly straight drama. Some of the situations are outlandishly ridiculous, yet are enough to make one squirm with their sheer brutality and lack of remorse. There's a level of absurdity reached when Casey (Eisenberg) buys the lot of fifty assorted color belts for the students in his dojo, even more so when his sensei Sensei (Alessandro Nivola) gushes over the gift of a black belt. The irony being that anyone can buy a black or a brown belt and who would be the wiser as it relates to a level of achievement. This is one story that probably won't leave you comfortable with it's resolution since it violates most norms of propriety, and might be expressed best in Casey's own words to his dead sensei - "I didn't play by the rules, but there never were any rules".