Far from a knockout

Any film with its title taken from the chorus line of a boisterous song by a nu metal band screams brainless and barbaric, in my opinion.

Although all that is true, the film is still an easy watch and a good time-waster. As a big fan of the movie The Wedding Singer, I was happy to know that director Frank Coraci was behind the camera. Although he didn’t manage to infuse the same charm or energy as his previous films, he still provided a forgettable, yet enjoyable, low-brow comedy for 105 minutes.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop actor Kevin James plays Scott Voss, a high school biology teacher, who is late to class on more than one occasion, and lacks the force a typical teacher holds.

Upon stumbling into a music class led by Marty (Winkler) he is taken aback by the student’s abilities. However, when he discovers his schools’ extra-curricular activities, including, the music programme, are under threat from funding cuts he accidentally ‘volunteers’ to raise funds to save the music! It also doesn’t hurt that Bella (Hayek), the school nurse, thinks that it is a brilliant idea.

Not having many skills or talents up his sleeve, he meets Niko (Bas Rutten) at his night job preparing immigrants to pass their citizenship exam. When he agrees to give Niko lessons on the side, he discovers the world of mixed martial arts and decides to try it. The reason: every opponent gets paid to take a beating whether they win or lose … and what better way to raise money for the school.

Despite the head teacher’s, and Bella’s, disapproval of his after school activities moonlighting as a fighter, Scott begins to show promise. He trains with Niko every day and eventually his plan to hit the underground circuit and rack up cash by losing honorably is changed when he gets a shot at a UFC league match.

As an actor known for the small-screen, James shifts to play the lead in Here Goes the Boom and provided a successful portrayal of a rough-edged character with a blue-collar humbleness. Yet, seeing as the movie falls under Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production line, the mixture doesn’t have much to inspire a great film.

His experience in TV certainly has provided him to have a half-hearted charisma, which Coraci shrewdly uses to his advantage by creating action montages with a couple of entertaining and random gags. But the chuckles still felt like they needed to be cued with audience laughter, like that of James’ series King of Queens.

I must admit though, the fight scenes looked fairly authentic for a half-baked comedy and were perfectly choreographed to make my knees feel weak at times, especially for a film rated PG.

Hayek may be the reason most men  want to watch this film, but don’t bother, she’s hardly in it. It wouldn’t make a difference if she were cast or not.

The character of Miguel, played by Shelly Desai, is what provided the movie with obvious, yet hilarious scenes. He plays a Mexican immigrant who is creepily confused all the time. Although he is in about five minutes of the movie altogether, his wide-eyed look and crooked smile had me in stitches in every scene he was in.

Having said this, the movie was mostly made up of scenes where a plump guy gets battered and falls to the ground. It’s always funny to watch someone get knocked out on-screen, but when it’s done over and over again, it gets a little old!

If you’re looking to throw away about an hour and a half of your life, this is the best way to do it. It’s entertaining but not a movie you would want to watch more than once.
*Showing in Dana Cinema