Adam Carolla, perhaps best known for co-hosting "The Man Show" with Jimmy Kimmel, brings us his first major appearance on the big screen -- leading man in a romantic sports comedy. And surprisingly (at least to me), he pulls it off ... with style!
The title "The Hammer" has two meanings. It refers to Carolla's character being both a carpenter and a boxer. Maybe it's three, if you consider his excessive drinking. Carolla plays Jerry Ferro, a man of decidedly limited means facing the dubious prospect of his 40th birthday, and he doesn't love what he sees. To his credit, he doesn't hate it either. He is pretty comfortable in his skin despite what mainstream society might think of his overall plusses and minuses. It is this attitude, in combination with the raw power and believability of the boxing scenes that makes "The Hammer" a fun time.
One of my pet peeves about sports movies is that far too often it is apparent that the "athlete" being portrayed has zero ability. I hate when a baseball player in a movie swings at a ball and it is clear to me that the ball will travel twenty feet before dying. Yet, inevitably, when the camera angle shifts, we watch the ball fly over the fence for a home run. It is abundantly clear that Carolla knows how to box. In fact, he previously competed in the prestigious Golden Gloves competition.
Jerry teaches boxing in a gym, mostly to people who don't have a clue (about boxing anyway). In one of his classes is the cute Nicole (Constance Zimmer). Jerry falls for her in a big way and they end up dating. Nicole is a successful lawyer, and Jerry is unsuccessful at, well, pretty much everything. This unlikely couple forms the canvas of the "Can these two kids from such different worlds make it?" It's a romantic comedy so I won't be giving anything away by telling you that they somehow manage to pull it off. Some of the scenes between the two feel a bit forced but the romance is a strong enough thread to propel the story forward.
Ferro, against all odds, and despite his own trainer trying to get one over on him, still manages to advance in tryouts for the Olympics. The climax comes when he makes it to the finals, boxing against his buddy. The match between best-friends-cum-boxing-adversaries features some of the most authentic-looking boxing scenes I've ever seen in a film. All of the boxing scenes in "The Hammer" ring very true. This, along with some snappy dialog, keeps us interested in the story.
If you had told me that I would enjoy this film beforehand I would have scoffed but I genuinely liked it, and I didn't even have to get hammered first.
