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| It's for the frigging kids... |
Here Comes the Boom is lighthearted entertainment, but still manages to bring several political hot issues to make you still wonder. For starters, it is unbelievable bipartisan. It knocks off the unfair founding school system, but it does the same with the teacher unions. The film doesn’t pit the personal responsibility ideal against the “it takes a village” meme, but embraces both of them. It cheers America and being American (a lot), but criticizes the current economical state of affairs. And Kevin James’ main character lone crusade mobilizes (and changes) the entire community at the end, integrating it in a way it can only be desired in real life, thanks to the still undergoing polarization.
Mixed martial arts and the UFC is a big winner here, something truly deserved for awhile. The new sport discipline knocked boxing out of its place by being first a more honest spectacle, and second, by bringing more feeling and emotion to the public. The movie obviously capitalizes on that ongoing spirit; some may deem this as a shameless commercial, but for most it is the final coming of age of MMA into the mainstream.
Of course “mixed reviews” were expected. After all, is a Kevin James movie and Adam Sandler is thru executive producing and his company Happy Madison involved. It is customary for the movie critics attempting to tear down anything with the name of Sandler or James once it appear in the theater marquees, but the people have spoken. People laughed with the comedy, not at the story and the focused actors’ performances.
January is supposed to be sort of a “nuclear waste facility” for the movie studios that want to get rid of failed projects and expected bombs. Here comes the boom doesn’t have the look of a failure nor its spirit. People simply need a reason to go to the movies at the beginning of the years and the cast that includes Salma Hayek, Joe Rogan (as himself), and of course the great Henry Winkler, provides it.
Highly recommended.
