Here Comes the Boom

When Kevin James made the jump from television to film, he actually did much better than you may have realized. His first four starring roles grossed north of $100 million. That impressive streak ended in 2011, but the actor has already been cemented as a viable lead for comedies and family movies, which is a good thing since he’s such a likeable guy. His latest, Here Comes the Boom seems destined to fall short of his box office’s high standards. The likely reason is the divisive presence of mixed martial arts in what could otherwise be categorized as a family film.

James plays a high school biology teacher who takes up mixed martial arts in order to make enough money to save the school’s extracurricular activities from budget cuts. Henry Winkler plays an unnaturally kind music teacher, who would lose his job, which is the reason the unlikely fighter gets in the octagon. As the second film in two years that has a teacher fighting MMA to make more money (Warrior), you’d think fighters at all levels of success were rolling in cash. But that’s obviously not the case. We’re meant to think that James has this amazing hidden talent for the sport, but it’s a bit difficult to buy that people who train full time wouldn’t get the opportunities over him. It is a movie though and when you get by the little issue of realism, it’s quite fun to watch.

The comedy in Here Comes the Boom outweighs the inspirational moments, which is important. The characters are written well with Bas Rutten and Mark DellaGrotte adding just enough MMA credibility next to the Hollywood regulars James and Winkler. Like previously mentioned, the movie is actually family friendly. The controlled MMA violence is less than many video games and is often meant to be funny. If we can’t laugh at Kevin James falling down and hurting himself, then the three stooges truly failed in their comedy innovations.

Each film earns either zero, a half or a full arrow in five categories. The categories are Acting, Writing/Directing, Emotion, Innovation and Overall Impression. The arrows are added up to equal the full score.