HERE COMES THE BOOM DVD (2012)

SYNOPSIS: Former collegeiate wrestler Scott Voss is a 42 year old, apathetic high school teacher. When budget cutbacks threaten to cancel some of the school's program and lay off its music teacher, Scott creates a scheme to raise money by moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter. Everyone thinks Scott is crazy - most of all the school nurse, Bella. In his quest, Scott gains something he never expected as he inspires his students and becomes a sensation that rallies the entire school.

MOVIE REVIEW:

In the little seen movie, “Warrior”, Australian actor Joel Edgerton plays a high school teacher who decides to become an UFC fighter just to meet ends meets. This part of the story unwittingly found its way into this latest comedy starring Kevin James.

James plays Scott Voss, a biology teacher who has lost his passion in teaching and the only highlight of his day is trying his best to date the school’s nurse, Bella (Salma Hayek). That is until the principal announced that he is cutting some school programs notably the music class headed by Marty (Henry Wrinkler). To prevent his colleague from getting the axe, Scott on an impulse volunteers to raise the required sum of money and the only solution to earn the cash fast as he learnt is to participate in UFC matches.  

Since shifting his career to the big screen, Kevin James has been dabbling in atrocious comedies such as “Zookeeper”, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” and “Grown Ups”. None particularly interesting or funny. In fact, most of the material mentioned are just plain silly and downright lazy. Happy Madison bears part of the blame since they are behind all those. Thus it comes as a surprise; “Here Comes the Boom” is so likeable that it is much better than expected.

For once, Kevin James delivers a character that is endearing to the audience without being forcefully funny. He is a bit of a jerk in the beginning but the events that follow slowly morph him into a hero, an unlikely one no less thanks to the charming script written by James and Allan Loeb. Although cage fighting is serious business, Frank Coraci (The Wedding Singer) brought along a message of motivation and inspiration through Scott Voss’ determination.   

Surrounding James’ characters are a bunch of actors with priceless comic timing and that includes Henry Winkler from “Happy Days” playing the passionate music teacher, Charice from “Glee” as a student of Voss and world renowned mixed martial artist Bas Rutten as Voss’ trainer. The beautiful Salam Hayek once again settles for the simplistic role of a love interest which doesn’t stretch the talented actress a bit.   

For all the predictability and gags, “Here Comes The Boom” comes across as a much coherent comedy than the usual crop of Madison Productions. It makes you laugh, makes you cry and have you rooting for the underdog. When a movie connects with you, I guess it has accomplished its job.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

There are 16 minutes of Deleted Scenes (some omitted one-liner and extended scenes), a 2 minutes Gag Reel and a brief Cast Featurette that consists of the usual interviews with the cast members.  

AUDIO/VISUAL:

“Here Comes The Boom” arrives in an excellent DVD transfer, images look stunning and detailed even for the darker scenes. For a comedy, the ambient sound effects are perfectly mastered and the UFC sequences boast a thunderous surround sound mix.

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by Linus Tee