{2jtab: Movie Review}

Easily the best thing about Here Comes the Boom is that its executive producer, Adam Sandler, does not make an appearance.  Designed to be a feel good movie in the vein of Rocky and Warrior, Frank Coraci’s film largely falls flat due to an uneven spread of comedy and drama.  The movie is a buffet of generic theatrics that – while meaning well – isn’t very filling at all.  Starving artists feed better than this.

Adding insult to its injury is the always unfunny Kevin James who stars as a lazy teacher who gets his ass kicked earning money as a part-time mixed martial arts cage fighter in order to save the school’s music department from being disbanded.  He’s also chasing the tail of the beautiful school nurse (Salma Hayek) and, really, who can blame him?  Of course, she’s not interested…until he can prove himself in the ring against real UFC fighters.  The real star of the picture though is Henry Winkler as the aloof music teacher whose job must be saved on the day he discovers his wife is pregnant.

Written by Allan Loeb, Rock Rueben, and James, Here Comes the Boom is all too often mindless as it attempts to climb its cardboard soapbox and protest the bureaucracy of school budgets and unfair school politics.  James as Scott Voss is about as charismatic as a water buffalo as he woes Hayek by charming her pants off with wrestling injuries and failed basketball attempts.  There are a couple of solid laughs during an after school meeting but probably only funny to anyone who has ever suffered through a meeting like that and it’s certainly not worth sitting through.  Thankfully, it happens early.

We’ve seen this narrative a thousand times over but that’s not the point.  When it’s done well, audiences always champion the underdog.  When it’s done as brainless as this, audiences always pay it no mind.  Hell, I’m a huge fan of the underdog story but James as a lazy biology teacher who shrugs off education at a failing Boston high school is part of the problem.  He is not a role model/hero/underdog even when cast as the person you’re to root for.

The little-guy comedy is literally hard to stomach.  The jokes – fat man getting pummeled to almost to death in a cage while slipping all over the mat due to a sudden rain storm – aren’t funny and broadcast themselves long before they happen.  Slapstick this isn’t.  Timing is everything and throwing up homemade applesauce on youtube for his students to fawn over has nothing to do with timing…or comedy.  It’s just stupid.

While probably the best film of Coraci’s career, that’s just not saying much.  It’s a heartfelt lesson for the heartless and the naïve.  Here Comes the Boom is for fans of Kevin James only.

{2jtab: Film Details}

MPAA Rating: PG (for bouts of MMA sports violence, some rude humor and language).
Runtime: 105 mins.
Director: Frank Coraci
Writer: Kevin James, Allan Loeb
Cast: Kevin James; Salma Hayek; Henry Winkler; Greg Germann; Joe Rogan
Genre: Comedy
Tagline: No one will fight for his students like Mr. Voss.
Memorable Movie Quote: "If you're gonna lose, then I'm gonna help you lose. Deal?"
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Official Site: http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/herecomestheboom/index.html
Release Date: October 12, 2012
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: February 5, 2013

Synopsis: In the comedy Here Comes the Boom, former collegiate wrester Scott Voss (Kevin James) is a 42-year-old apathetic biology teacher in a failing high school. When cutbacks threaten to cancel the music program and lay off its teacher (Henry Winkler) Scott begins to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter. Everyone thinks Scott is crazy – most of all the school nurse, Bella (Salma Hayek) – but in his quest, Scott gains something he never expected as he becomes a sensation that rallies the entire school.

{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}

Component Grades Movie Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray Experience

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - February 5, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Thai
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD); UV digital copy
Region Encoding: A

Here Comes the Boom gets respect on Blu-ray with a strong 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer; one that only falters when in the ring battling it out for guts and glory.  The palette is ripe with bold primaries, deep blacks, and bronzed but lifelike skintones; the under-lit cage matches falter only the tiniest bit with all the sweat and skin.  Contrast remains strong and stable throughout, and depth is commendable. However, a pair of murky car scenes and a dimly lit showdown suffer from detail-sapping shadows and poor delineation.  Even so, fine textures are crisp and refined, closeups feature plenty of detail, and edge definition, though undermined by a bit of slight ringing, is sharp and satisfying.  The effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track really brings the boom though with dynamic dialogue and nice surround tinges.

Supplements:

Commentary:

• None.  A commentary for a movie of this caliber is obviously not needed but it would have been interesting to hear what the motivation was behind the movie.

Special Features:

There’s enough bonus material to satisfy even casual fans of the movie.  Maybe too much for those who thought the film we just barely passable.  The deleted scenes - Scott Arrives at School, Niko's Apartment, Scott and Marty Pull Up to the Warehouse, Hospital, Bleeding in Class, Scott Asks for Another Fight, Scott Shows Up at Bella's, Another Chance?, Jogging Along the River, Teaching and Launching Rockets, Scott and Bella in the Kitchen, Knock Out, Restaurant Talk, Banner, Meeting Rich, After the Fight, Embezzlement, and Original Ending - kick off the bonus material with deleted moments that are trimmings and really nothing more.  There’s an unfunny Gag Reel and a look at the film’s cast.  Several featurettes include interviews with real MMA fighters and they discuss how to fight.  The training James went through is included and there’s also a look at the comradeship between three of the actors.  A UV Digital copy is also included.

• Deleted Scenes (16 min)
• Gag-reel (2 min)
• Here Comes the Cast (6 min)
• Gino vs. Ritchie (4 min)
• Back to School (4 min)
• Learning How to Fight (9 min)
• Three Amigos (6 min)
• The Pros (3 min)
• Disco Street Fighting (2 min)

{2jtab: Trailer}

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