Here Comes the Boom

I would like to start off this review by saying that I was expecting to hate this movie with a burning passion. Kevin James seems to be on this trend of being in movies with a ridiculous plot line in hopes to attract the youth audience.

"Here Comes The Boom" was a refreshingly good movie that may not have provided me with gut-wrenching laughs throughout the movie, but left me in a great mood and happy I watched it. I feel that it was put in a difficult spot by being labeled a "comedy" movie because I feel it wasn't aiming to be the most humorous movie out there. I think it would have been better labeled to be a "feel-good inspirational" movie.

"Boom" may not be your traditional comedy, but it was a fun ride none the less. Give it a chance, but don't expect to be rolling from laughter. View it as if it was an inspirational movie, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Here Comes the Boom is Kevin James latest film which sees him tackling the world of MMA. James a lifelong fan of MMA trained in mix martial arts for this role and it is evident in his performance as a teacher turned UFC fighter.(This being the first film with official UFC licensing.

This film is aimed at the same demographic as those who enjoyed Chuck and Larry or King of Queens, its an interesting watch with enough depth to keep you watching. Though this film has a few good laughs and a steady if a somewhat predictable story line its main flaw is attention to detail with the minor characters that make the story.

Overall it is worth a watch but don't expect to see it on any all time great lists. The best is yet to come from Kevin James and I am sure we will see it from him in the future.

This has real charm, motivation, comedy, and a superb Henry Winkler and Selma Hayek - and a very good Bas Rutten as the coach who will be getting a ton of work based on this - all in all this is a surprise from beginning to end - and James finally seems to have learnt to rein it in and learnt that OTT all the time is just deadening.

So, a confession - Mall Cop, not my favorite movie, just OK, the one at the zoo, definitely not my thing (or my kids), so I had very low expectations indeed going in to see Boom - but what a difference! The plot is simple: loser teacher seeks to raise school funds by becoming a MMA fighter. And it works. The surprise is how inspirational this is - the school aspect is a really smart move - and totally lifts the movie.

If you want a pizza movie you could do much much worse, this is a well-made, well-judged, and fun movie. One strongly suspects that James found a character he could totally connect with and it gives him what he does best - heart.

"Here Comes the Boom" is part pedagogical movie, part sports movie, and all about dedication and commitment.

Scott Voss (Kevin James) was a lazy tenured biology teacher at a Boston high school who had long given up on trying to teach. The only thing he gave a half effort towards was asking out Bella Flores (Salma Hayek), the school nurse. Fortunately, Bella wasn't offended by his come-ons, because his advances could've been viewed as sexual harrassment.

Scott would have a cause to fight for, literally and figuratively, when Principal Betcher (Greg Germann) notified the staff that they would be dropping the music program due to budget cuts. Marty Streb (Henry Winkler) was the music teacher, he was passionate about it, and he had a baby on the way. If Scott, Bella, and Marty could come up with $48,000 they could save the music program.

Nothing they could think of was going to generate the needed money fast enough until Scott saw an opportunity to make good money fast doing MMA (mixed martial arts). He hooked up with an MMA trainer, Niko (Bas Rutten), and got to work. It wasn't pretty, but it certainly was funny.

I remember when this movie came out Kevin James was sporting a slimmer look. He was still on the hefty side, but a lot healthier looking. "Here Comes the Boom" combined two themes that I fancy: teacher reformations and David v. Goliath in sports.

As for the teaching aspect of the movie, usually it's a very motivated teacher inspiring the kids. In this case it was an unmotivated teacher finding some inspiration which he then imparted upon the kids.

As for the sports aspect, it followed the sports movie script, which I like. Sports movies are all about overcoming obstacles and nine times out of ten it's about an underdog becoming victorious. "Here Comes the Boom" was victorious. It was funny, clean, entertaining, and inspirational. I mean, if Kevin James can drop seventy pounds how can you not be inspired?

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High art this is not but anyone that expects high level stuff from a movie with this premise is not watching it with the right frame of mind. It's a good old fashion feel good film with a message. Dare I say Capraesque? I wouldn't even classify this as a comedy. It's a fantasy of goodwill film that induces plenty of smiles and packs heart. Kevin James is perfect in the lead and his common man qualities play extremely well here. They lean on the Rocky formula a lot but that's not necessarily a bad thing. One thing is for sure, Salma Hayek is the hottest "Adrian" type love interest to ever play in this type of film. She's amazing throughout. A warm shout out to Henry Winkler who is also perfectly cast as the somewhat eccentric music teacher with the heart of gold.

A wonderful surprise that I enjoyed very much.