The Hammer

Day 224 - 8/12/09 - Movie #220

BEFORE: Boxing Week continues - I heard good things about this film with Adam Carolla as an aging boxer. Of course, most of those good things were from Carolla himself during interviews...

THE PLOT: A once-promising amateur boxer -- who quit so he wouldn't risk his perfect record of underachievement -- decides that it's time to make his return to competitive boxing.

AFTER: Carolla's not as annoying as usual here. He plays a guy who just turned 40, gets fired from his carpenter job and dumped by his girlfriend, and is just left with his part-time job at a gym, teaching boxing exercise classes. But after a stint as a sparring partner, he's led to believe that he's got a shot at the U.S. Olympic team. The movie is filled with his sarcastic wit and snappy comebacks - example:

"This guy was the amateur champion five years ago..."
"What's he been doing the last five years?"
"He's been DOING five years..."

There's a lot more of that, and his character is lucky enough to meet a cute lawyer who finds his self-deprecating sarcasm endearing rather than depressing. It's a lot like a long standup routine - Carolla does 5 minutes on the La Brea Tar Pits that absolutely kills.

The film has a very indie feel to it, almost like a "Napoleon Dynamite", and not just because of the Latino sidekick. There's a little bit of boxing strategy included, but I wanted more. There's a bit of a twist ending, as Carolla's Jerry Ferro finds a way to win by losing - or is it the other way around? Nice guys finish last, but they DO finish - and that's important.

If only it had been narrated by Morgan Freeman...

RATING: 7 out of 10 toggle bolts