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Remember that awesome subplot in Gavin O’Connor’s Warrior (2011) wherein a high school teacher tries to make ends meet by entering the UFC, and the principal thinks he’s embarrassing the academic profession, but the students draw inspiration from his courage? Well, Kevin James does too, as evidenced by his new comedy, Here Comes the Boom, about a high school teacher who tries to raise money by entering the UFC, and the principal thinks he’s embarrassing the academic profession, but the students draw inspiration from his courage.
In fairness, some elements have been switched around: rather than pay his mortgage, Scott Voss (Kevin James) aims to use the funds to save his colleague’s music curriculum; rather than negotiate with a loving wife who doesn’t want him to get hurt, he pursues Bella (Salma Hayek), the opinionated school nurse; and, rather than a drama about a realistic underdog with prior MMA experience, we get a fish-out-of-water farce about a likeable doofus who clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing. All these changes are designed to fit a rather tired Hollywood mould, but at least they serve the formula well.
Mind you, I’ve always had a soft spot for James, who seems to have cornered the market for sweetness in goofball comedies. His best so far, Here Comes the Boom stands out for sidestepping the sort of mean-spirited gross-out gags we’ve come to expect from a Happy Madison production. Well, okay, there’s one vomit joke, but director Frank Coraci makes sure to emphasise the awkwardness of the situation instead of its vulgarity. Otherwise, the film features little bile, be it in the form of a cackling villain or offensive sidekick. In fact, the only antagonist, Principal Betcher (Greg Germann), shows up for just a handful of scenes, establishing the initial conflict and then moving aside for some warm-hearted high jinks.
I have admittedly grown weary of James’ loveable pushover persona, but here he plays a different archetype, that of the disabused idealist slowly getting his groove back. The first act presents Scott as an awful educator, the sort of shameless egotist who puts down overachievers to confirm his own cynicism and takes advantage of those who still value their work. It therefore comes as a surprise when our protagonist stands up for Marty (Henry Winkler), a passionate music teacher, and we soon realise Scott has merely lost faith in the system. His transformation back into a productive member of society isn’t desperately original, but, dang it, don’t you find it refreshing to have a comedic hero who isn’t stuck in perpetual adolescence?
The supporting cast also proves endearing, not to mention substantial. Scott has got a lot of colourful characters in his life, including his colleagues and biology students, an elder brother on the verge of a midlife crisis (Gary Valentine), a class of aspiring immigrants studying for their citizenship, and two overexcited coaches portrayed by real-life mixed martial artists Mark DellaGrotte and Bas Rutten. The latter is an absolute revelation as the chronically dorky Niko, who finds passion in even the most ridiculous endeavours. I think I laughed at every single one of his lines.
In a lesser movie, the sheer number of characters would’ve clogged up the narrative, but Here Comes the Boom uses every bit player to extend its message beyond the usual, “Never give up on your dreams!” The idea is to show the value of engaging into the system instead of blaming the other cogs for not turning properly. Sure, Scott and Betcher have good cause to criticise one another, but neither is doing his part to fix the issue. In fact, the situation only improves once our hero reallocates the various resources in his community, using one person’s ambitions to fill the other’s needs.
James, who co-wrote the screenplay with Allen Loeb and Rock Reuben, takes the lesson even further, tying it to notions of immigration and American diversity. I love the scene in which a Filipina student (Charice) explains how she had to relearn everything when she came to the U.S. because of the language barrier. Rather than pity the girl, Scott has her tutoring Niko, who, as a Swedish resident, may benefit from her experience. I suspect this subtle promotion of tolerance will yield better results than the “wagging finger of shame” approach used in films like Crash (2004).
Yes, I’m overselling it a bit. What can I say? Here Comes the Boom turns out a remarkably intelligent “dumb comedy”. Sure, the idea that Scott could compete in the UFC defies common sense no matter how often characters mention his college wrestling years, but the final bout had me on the edge of my seat. By the same token, there’s no denying that James lifted the plot wholesale from the more maudlin half of Warrior or that the movie has pretty much half the brains, but it’s a got a full heart, baby.
wow…been waiting for this film to come out. It looks like an enjoyable movie with a plot and everything and, of course, I would like to see Charice in her first major film, as a supporting actress.
i still have to watch it tom.sat. oct.13th, HCTB,been waiting for this more than a year. tom is my date w/ HCTB to see Charice!
CHARICE… our whole family and friends of 8 are going to the theater tomorrow to watch you, Kevin and Salma! looks like FUN!!! we luv to see you act and sing this time in the silver screen. we’re eagerly waiting for more CHARICE concerts and movies!!!
oct.13th sat i went watched the movie today HCTB its about this weird biology teacher-scott voss (kevin james) always lazy when he reached the classrm-slamming his huge body in that chair & raising up his foot on top of his table-whew,student asking question but-sorry the teacher is sleepy yet,hehehe.a teacher-teaches from the table top-crossing the students chair w/ little table to write on, hehehe-maybe thats the way to teach energy in motion of a cell? until he talked w/ this music old music teacher-henry winkler-as marty-he got inspired of his teaching music he can see these students playing good-included here is charice as a pianist in the class-marty revealing his secret that his wifey is preggy w/ him that old already.they learned later on fr sch meeting fr the principal that the music program will no longer be funded- will be shutdown coz luck of fund or ran out of funds-there kicked the problem-scott carried the burden coz marty will lose his job as old as him -who’s wife is even pregnant-so scott planned some strategies how to raise money to support the music prog so marty wont lose his job and the music students will cont to play music. so he got some friends who trained him how to become a fighter again-which he was long time ago- i dont know about this fight-all i knew now is UFC its like wrestling and boxing stuffs-of course u see this guy getting beaten i keep on screaming like i was the one got hit and feels good when he hit the opponent. 1day scott back to classrm & asked Malia as Charice whats up, she said that her father wants her to quit music and help in the family business resto,he said no,she cant quit. then Malia’s father went to the principal and complained about scott minding his business in parenting his daughter hehehe, but later on they became ok. scott had a dig w/ the sch nurse salma hayek as bella flores & been asking her for a date or dinner in his place, hehehe-dinner came but salma thought it was food bought fr a resto? but he insisted he cooked it,there they played around-in his place-running around & then she chased him and jumped on his back like a little girl horsey horsey ride. scotts fights win or lose he got some money & he gave to that principal so the music program will continue. until his grand fight-and the opponent was really scary looking w/ lots of tattooes-so salma told him to just quit it ,anyways there was a news that the principal had embezzled the sch funds-so its useless to fight for his life for nothing-coz someone else there in the sch is living luxurious life spending sch funds, hehehe! but scott went ahead to cont the fight -to win he can take $50G enough for the progran to run & he just thought of the students and the music teacher whom he doesnt want to lose his job too. during the grand entrance in the aisle of the UFC ring-he can hear something- henry’s music students were up there sa bleachers playing his theme song Holly Holy being sang solo by Charice,wow-there goes the goosebumps and heartstruck on that piece-felt happy when i saw charice.with the band playing too. so scott’s mind was focused on beating this dietrich guy-big guy-how he can beat that one? 1st round he was bleeding already in the forehead areas, 2nd rounds much harder, good he made it on the 3rd round-K.O his opponent in a weird position how he lifted him up and slammed his backhead on the floor and there K.O. dietrich- so scott won this fight-money went to the music program-no firing of teachers,and students cont learning playing their music-including charice or malia- there scott on the link fence he asked for a kiss fr salma there she let him kiss her lips to lips-he’s happy now. they went out of that music bldg altogether- salma,kevin,henry,charice-all happy folks and other students or audience. the end. there’s no HCTB original song, only 2 sentences of the song played by henry while he was strumming his guitar, otherwise its not really a song u can call. i went to see this movie coz i love charice, i like to see her sing or in the movie. my support for her.thanks for making her part of this HCTB movie.