90%
71%
11%
22%
31%
76%
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 36
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 9
Crass and curiously low-energy, The Hammer ultimately perseveres as both an above-average sports comedy and a perfect starring vehicle for Carolla.
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 14
Fresh: 11 | Rotten: 3
Crass and curiously low-energy, The Hammer ultimately perseveres as both an above-average sports comedy and a perfect starring vehicle for Carolla.
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Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 3,900
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Can a guy edging into middle age become a success fighting guys half his age? That's the big question behind this independent comedy. Jerry Ferro (Adam Carolla) is almost 40 years old, and he's spent most of his life going nowhere -- and taking his own sweet time getting there. While Jerry enjoyed some success as an amateur boxer when he was young, these days he's out of shape, drinks too much, and scrapes by working in construction. Through his work as a handyman, Jerry has landed a part-time
Apr 26, 2007 Wide
Jun 24, 2008
$0.3M
IFC Films
All Critics (38) | Top Critics (16) | Fresh (29) | Rotten (9) | DVD (7)
Yes, this comedy about a sad-sack, has-been boxer is painfully predictable and manages to include every cliche of the genre, but executive producer and star Adam Carolla keeps it rolling along with his trademark, deadpan rants.
I think it's a terrific little film.
I never would have guessed that Adam Carolla, the politically incorrect radio and TV personality, could hold his own in a movie, but here's The Hammer to prove me wrong.
A nearly comatose comedy that spends its time just bum-stumbling along, never putting in the work necessary to land a solid joke or develop a winning character.
[Adam] Carolla's grumbly, monotoned, stoop-shouldered pessimism in The Hammer, the first feature he has penned, is actually funny.
So many movies these days are overworked or overblown: The Hammer feels genuinely tossed-off. It isn't a great movie, or even a consistently good one. Yet it gets to elusive feelings about failure and success, hope and mortality.
The Hammer is one of the year's nicest surprises.
Much of the film's charm comes from its scruffy, self-effacing modesty; it's a relaxed, affable underdog about a relaxed, affable underdog.
Forget the 40 Year Old Virgin. How about the 40 Year Old Boxer with Self-Esteem Issues?
All The Hammer really adds to the boxing-movie canon is the refreshing air of not worrying about adding anything to the boxing-movie canon. That, and being funny.
watchable, if not unique.. all in good fun
Built out of character, not crudity, and wonderfully uplifting without being maudlin or pat, The Hammer...is actually quite accomplished.
Like a television show, The Hammer wields that mysterious power to keep you watching even though you know it isn't any good.
A boxing comedy with a potty mouth and warm heart.
To his credit, Carolla carries 'The Hammer' with self-assured ease, hoisting the film on his broad shoulders while making sure, as screenwriter, to leave some of its sharpest one-liners to his supporting cast.
Succeeds in spite of itself.
Adam Carolla isn't everyone's cup of tea, but the man can sling around an acidic one-liner with the best of them, and his starring debut is a familiar, but persuasively funny brew of clichés and belly laughs.
There are plenty of opportunities for Carolla to spout wisdom and observations.
Working with utterly predictable material, screenwriter Kevin Hench finds plenty of offbeat humor, and Carolla knows how to make it sing.
Carolla is winning in The Hammer, which evokes Rocky and just about every other lovable-loser sports movie while showing enough comic originality to hold interest throughout.
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