Here Comes The Boom

Review by Anthony Morris

When Warrior came out in 2011, how many people watching it thought "Yeah, this is good and everything, but this grim tale of a high school teacher forced to become a mixed marshal arts fighter just to make ends meet would be a heck of a lot better if it was a wacky comedy based around getting hit in the balls"?

You wouldn’t have thought all that many, and yet here we are in 2012 and Here Comes The Boom is that non-existent person’s deepest dream come true.

Scott Voss (Kevin James) is an aging slob who teaches biology at a Boston High school that’s rapidly running out of money.

When cutbacks mean the music department and its head teacher (Henry Winkler, who once again proves he can get real laughs given half a chance) are set for the boot, Voss decides to raise the money to save them by taking on a second job as a mixed martial arts fighter, even though his fighting style is best described as “flabby shirtless punching bag”.

This results in a lot of attention from the school nurse (Salma Hayek), which suits Voss just fine, and while there is literally zero suspense in any of the plot developments here this does manage to be a moderately likable comedy all the same.

It’s easy (and fun) to take cheap shots at the Adam Sandler style of comedy, especially at the moment when Sandler himself seems to have forgotten what it was that made him such a big star.

But this kind of solid, unambitious, unspectacular comedy can still get the job done when it comes to laughs, and while this doesn’t exactly come off as a well-oiled comedy machine – a lot of the jokes are duds and a lot of the scenes feel thrown together – James is still likable enough to carry it over the line.

3 out of 5

Here Comes The Boom
Australian release: 6th December, 2012
Official Site: Here Comes The Boom
Cast: Kevin James, Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler, Greg Germann, Joe Rogan, Gary Valentine, Charice, Bas Rutten
Director: Frank Coraci