The Hammer (2008)
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] for brief language.
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... 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 underachievement—Jerry has been knocking around from one construction job to another and spinning his wheels in an unsatisfying relationship, all the while with an eye toward eventually getting his shit together. His last connection to the fight game is the evening boxing class he teaches to middle-aged, middle class, middle management types at a gym in Pasadena, where he also works as a handyman. When venerable boxing coach Eddie Bell asks Jerry if he’d like to spar a couple of rounds with Malice Blake, an up-and-coming pro, Jerry reluctantly steps into the ring. Despite the ass-kicking Jerry otherwise receives, a one-punch knockdown of Blake convinces Jerry that it¹s time to make his return to competitive boxing. Thus ends a 20-year layoff and begins a hilarious fish-out-water quest for Olympic gold. --© Official Site [More]
Starring: Adam Carolla, Oswaldo Castillo, Harold House Moore, Jonathan Hernandez
Starring: Adam Carolla, Oswaldo Castillo, Harold House Moore, Jonathan Hernandez, Heather Juergensen
Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld
Screenwriter: Kevin Hench
Story: Adam Carolla
Studio: International Film Circuit Inc.
Reviews for The Hammer
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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. Full Review |
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watchable, if not unique.. all in good fun Full Review |
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Like a television show, The Hammer wields that mysterious power to keep you watching even though you know it isn't any good. Full Review |
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A boxing comedy with a potty mouth and warm heart. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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Succeeds in spite of itself. Full Review |
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I think it’s a terrific little film. Full Review |
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Adam 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. Full Review |
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There are plenty of opportunities for Carolla to spout wisdom and observations. Full Review |
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Working with utterly predictable material, screenwriter Kevin Hench finds plenty of offbeat humor, and Carolla knows how to make it sing. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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[Adam] Carolla's grumbly, monotoned, stoop-shouldered pessimism in The Hammer, the first feature he has penned, is actually funny. Full Review |
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Adam Carrola makes for a pretty agreeable leading man in The Hammer, a movie tailor-made to the comic strengths of the radio/TV personality. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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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. Full Review |
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It's genuinely funny, oddly romantic and surprisingly engaging for what could easily have been an obnoxious vanity project. Full Review |
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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.
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The script depends heavily on familiar stand-up comedy bits, but it's full of sharp wisecracks and slacker charm. Full Review |
Latest News for The Hammer
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February 20, 2008:
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