I never would have guessed that Adam Carolla, the politically incorrect radio and TV personality, could hold his own in a movie, but here's The Hammer to prove me wrong.
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03/21/08
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The Hammer (2008)
71
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:22
Rotten:9
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: Crass and curiously low-energy, The Hammer ultimately perseveres as both an above-average sports comedy and a perfect starring vehicle for Carolla.
Rated: R [See Full Rating]
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:Mar 21, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $321,579
Synopsis: Jerry Ferro’s 40th birthday has brought his life into sharp relief and it’s not a pretty picture. A once-promising amateur boxer—who quit so he wouldn’t risk his perfect record of... [More]
Reviews for The Hammer
Top CriticPlays mostly like wish-fulfillment for its star.
03/20/08
Adam Carolla fans will feel they've died and gone to heaven...Unfortunately it all adds up to something more like a viral video than a full-fledged film.
03/21/08
To his credit, Carolla carries 'The Hammer' with self-assured ease, hoisting the film on his broad shoulders while making sure, as screenwriter, to leave some of its sharpest one-liners to his supporting cast.
04/09/08
The movie benefits from unpretentiousness; it never takes itself too seriously.
03/10/08
Top CriticThe Hammer isn't going to sneak past Raging Bull in the boxing-movie pantheon (or even Rocky, for that matter). But like its star, it is an underdog you can root for.
03/20/08
Top CriticWhile this rock’em sock’em rom com about a middle-aged man’s unlikely return to the world of amateur boxing doesn’t quite score a knockout, it lands a respectable number of body blows -- and belly laughs.
03/21/08
It's surprising the film doesn't feature lesbians jumping on trampolines.
03/18/08
Top CriticAll The Hammer really adds to the boxing-movie canon is the refreshing air of not worrying about adding anything to the boxing-movie canon. That, and being funny.
08/07/08
Working with utterly predictable material, screenwriter Kevin Hench finds plenty of offbeat humor, and Carolla knows how to make it sing.
03/21/08
It's genuinely funny, oddly romantic and surprisingly engaging for what could easily have been an obnoxious vanity project.
03/21/08
Carolla is winning in The Hammer, which evokes Rocky and just about every other lovable-loser sports movie while showing enough comic originality to hold interest throughout.
03/21/08
So many movies these days are overworked or overblown: The Hammer feels genuinely tossed-off. It isn't a great movie, or even a consistently good one. Yet it gets to elusive feelings about failure and success, hope and mortality.
03/21/08
Top Critic[Adam] Carolla's grumbly, monotoned, stoop-shouldered pessimism in The Hammer, the first feature he has penned, is actually funny.
03/21/08
Top CriticLike the boxer himself, the flick is flabby but light on its feet, ultimately exceeding expectations
03/20/08
watchable, if not unique.. all in good fun
07/05/08
If you liked Rocky Balboa you should be in good shape, since it's exactly the same movie, just aimed at a teeny-tiny-bit younger demographic and with an affectless leading man who avoids hambone acting by not acting at all.
03/19/08
Top CriticAdam Carolla isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the man can sling around an acidic one-liner with the best of them, and his starring debut is a familiar, but persuasively funny brew of clichés and belly laughs.
03/23/08
The movie's reliance on crass humor and long-shot solutions gradually take the charm off this underdog's blue collar.
03/20/08
A boxing comedy with a potty mouth and warm heart.
04/16/08
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March 20, 2008:
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