The Striking Truth

Apparently, segments of The Striking Truth ― an overly stoic and seriously misguided documentary about UFC welterweight George St-Pierre and MMA fighter David Loiseau ― were shot in 3D for theatrical presentation. But since the film is so bad, no distributor picked it up, leaving it to litter in DVD bargain bins in 2D format, which is a shame as the unintended comedy quotient is far greater than in any of those Roger Corman-produced SyFy Original movies that are in on the joke. In a nutshell, this hilariously stylized and myopic hagiography follows St-Pierre ― whose 185 lbs. is comprised of 175 lbs. of heart, according to one such troglodyte ― on his rise to success, punching and kicking people for money when not nattering on about his standard and uneventful upbringing or showing off his fancy new house devoid of furniture. Slow motion images of him walking around with French-Canadian hip-hop music playing in the background frequently transition to the somewhat more animated Loiseau, whose career is littered with more disappointment and frustration. Now, in theory, the juxtaposition of one man's success with another's failure as a document has the potential to say something about cultural performance or the arbitrary nature of it all, or even something glib about drive and passion. The Striking Truth does none of this, instead featuring some of the most inarticulate people on the planet talking out of their asses, such as pudgy, homely, middle-aged fight analysts spouting nonsense like, "George St-Pierre has the full package: the body, the looks and the fighting style that all men want to have and that all women are attracted to." The drama comes from attempts to lose weight rapidly for weigh-ins and the occasional teary-eyed story involving a toy unicorn. For films such as this, it's best to get a director that doesn't have an intense hard-on for his subjects and the industry he is assessing in order to get some sort of balance and complexity. Otherwise, you wind up with something tedious, superficial and unintentionally funny, such as this. No supplements are included with the DVD. That's a shame, since it would be great to hear big, puffy men talk about having some dude's smelly crotch on their forehead during a fight.