All 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.
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08/07/08
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The Hammer (2008)
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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
watchable, if not unique.. all in good fun
07/05/08
Like a television show, The Hammer wields that mysterious power to keep you watching even though you know it isn't any good.
04/21/08
A boxing comedy with a potty mouth and warm heart.
04/16/08
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
Succeeds in spite of itself.
03/28/08
I think it’s a terrific little film.
03/24/08
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
There are plenty of opportunities for Carolla to spout wisdom and observations.
03/21/08
Working with utterly predictable material, screenwriter Kevin Hench finds plenty of offbeat humor, and Carolla knows how to make it sing.
03/21/08
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.
03/21/08
Top CriticCarolla 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
A nearly comatose comedy that spends its time just bum-stumbling along, never putting in the work necessary to land a solid joke or develop a winning character.
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 CriticAdam Carrola makes for a pretty agreeable leading man in The Hammer, a movie tailor-made to the comic strengths of the radio/TV personality.
03/21/08
While 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
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 CriticIt's genuinely funny, oddly romantic and surprisingly engaging for what could easily have been an obnoxious vanity project.
03/21/08
Carolla has a tendency to riff when he should be acting, and the whole project is rambling and disorganized. At the same time, though, The Hammer also has dry wit and unforced working-class swagger, and hits some surprising emotional notes.
03/21/08
Top CriticThe script depends heavily on familiar stand-up comedy bits, but it's full of sharp wisecracks and slacker charm.
03/21/08
Top CriticLatest News for The Hammer
March 20, 2008:
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This week at the movies, we've got a wacky bodyguard (Drillbit Taylor, starring Owen Wilson and Leslie Mann), a wild family reunion (Meet the Browns, starring Angela Basset and... More...
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