Sidekicks

Sidekicks is a 1993 American adventure action comedy-drama film directed by Aaron Norris and starring Jonathan Brandis and Chuck Norris. Plot Barry Gabrewski is a troubled and bullied asthmatic boy who lives with his widowed father, Jerry (Beau Bridges), in Houston, Texas. A loner, Barry has vivid daydreams about being Chuck Norris' sidekick, and about battling against Norris' movie enemies. Said foes are often personified by Barry's everyday nemeses, such as: class bully Randy Cellini (John Buchanan); Coach Horn (Richard Moll), their loudmouthed and demanding PE instructor; apathetic Principal Mapes (Gerrit Graham). Noreen Chan (Julia Nickson-Soul), Barry's favorite teacher, often plays the damsel-in-distress in these daydreams...most of which parody assorted Chuck Norris films (notably Missing In Action, The Delta Force, and The Hitman). Barry wants to learn martial arts; yet he is rejected by arrogant dojo-master Kelly Stone (Joe Piscopo) -- who also happens to be Randy's sensei -- for being too weak. Instead, he is taken on as a student by an old Chinese man called Mr. Lee (Mako), Noreen's sly uncle and the owner of a local Chinese restaurant, "Frying Dragon". Mr. Lee finds creative ways of teaching Barry to defend himself from bullies; he devises training methods that increase Barry's endurance, thus helping the boy's asthma. Lee also deduces Barry's hero-worship of Norris, from Barry's daydreams; he creatively incorporates this into Barry's training, devising scenarios that seem more dangerous than they are...so that Barry will feel heroic for succeeding at them. Lee enters himself, Barry, and Chan into a local team Karate tournament but is a bit stymied to learn that a team must have four members. Norris is attending the tournament as a guest and, at Lee's urging, Chan convinces Norris to join the team. Norris is both willing to help an ardent fan and has his own motivation for participating: he has encountered Stone on several occasions and wants to teach him "a lesson in humility". Barry is stunned to find himself working together with his hero.