Here Comes the Boom

[baumer]

Discuss

[JackO]

Here comes the Boom is the story of Scott Voss (Kevin James) a bum teacher who finds inspiration in a chance encounter with the music class taught by Marty Streb (Henry Winkler). When the school’s budget cuts threaten to end the music program, Voss volunteers to help raise the money to save it. After finding no other options, he finds the MMA after helping out a wild student (Bas Rutten) in his citizenship class who used to fight. Luckily, as he gets dinged up, he gets closer to his crush, the school nurse, Bella Flores (Salma Hayek). The only problem is that they only have a semester to raise $48,000 or else all is lost! Will he be able to get the money on time?The best part about the movie is the fight sequences. It uses inspiration from The Fighter and Real Steel, splicing crowd shots, slo mo, reaction shots from invested characters, and very loud volume to raise the stakes. They even add POV shots to add the rollercoaster ride type of experience. Each fight gets bigger than the last.Another thing this movie does well is just having heart. If you are going to see a movie about the American education system this year, I would recommend this one above others. Why? Because it does not take itself seriously, so when it does touch on the issues, it does not only serve one side or the other. It puts the blame solely on the individual and it makes a lot of sense since our lead starts out as a lazy anti-hero. It’s not just the teachers. The parents also hold themselves accountable as the example use dint he film is that of a father of a smart girl in class.But that is also where the film cheats. Anywhere this smart girl from Mr. Voss’ class shows up, the scene is guaranteed to be highly emotional or out of place funny. Now I can understand why they needed a kid in the class to for the audience be able to see another perspective on Mr. Voss’ journey but mostly she is just used as a cheap emotionally manipulative plot device. She even has magical powers, she can jump from not knowing the wild student to teaching him how to sing in English without even introducing herself! And of course you know, she loves her music since she walks around with huge headphones. That, my friends, is subtext.That was a major cheat, some other cheats occur within the plot to help massage the movie towards it’s ending or when a character makes callbacks to things that didn’t actually happen. Of course, with it being a Kevin James movie, the humor can get pretty random and infantile. I mean, it is physical comedy but have some taste. Some of the gags feel like they were trying to squeeze every last laugh in every scene, no matter if it means hitting an extra in the face or not.Anyways, to sum up, this film stands in pretty stark contrast to recent Happy Madison releases. There is a lot of heart here but the execution leaves more to be desired. I would like to see more films like this from Happy Madison. It’s a decent start.C+

[glassfairy]

There is a lot of heart here but the execution leaves more to be desired.

Pretty much this. I give it a B-. It's not a movie that made me laugh a lot but it made me smile a lot.

[cheesypoofs]

I absolutely loved it! Definitely more of a feel-good movie than comedy.

[baumer]

Not sure what execution is you are speaking of here that is lacking. I thought it was a beautiful film. It's about perserverance, friendship, loyalty and going for your dreams. This film is all heart and it has some nice laughs too. The foursome of Fonzi, James, the TV tough guy and Hayek are pretty much gold. I really enjoyed it. The MMA scenes are fantastic, the fights are well choreographed and it's all heart.8.5/10*** Also, Jacko, when you complain about the student who loves music and her headphones and so on, here is a true story for you. My step sons girlfriend is from the Philippines and moved to Toronto at the age of 8. She couldn't speak a word of English. She learned by listening to music over and over and over again. Then she got into Harry Potter and that was the first movie that helped her learn the language. So her character may seem cookie cutter to you is actually very relatable to me.

Edited October 25, 2012 by Halloween baumer

[baumer]

On a side note, Kevin James got in terrific shape for this film and he lost 50 pounds.4 months later he put it all back on. What an idiot. Why would you work that hard to look that good and then get lazy and lose all will power and get fat again?

[MovieGuyKyle17]

Here Comes The Boom may be predictable, a little cheesy, and overall the jokes are very little but it's uplifting toward the end, plus it has Henry Winkler which are always 2 big pluses in in my book. 

Grade: B-

[Goffe]

It's a fine movie until the end, then everything goes off the rails, the third act really destroy the whole movie. Occasionally funny and good acting from Kevin James, but ridiculous climax and "food fight" D+ (35)

Edited October 6, 2013 by Goffe

[mattmav45]

When it's not ridiculous and implausible it's cheese-filled and cliche-ridden to the point of self-parody.

[Squaremaster316]

*1/2

 

The usual insufferable crap from the worst studio in production today.