Boom!

Occasionally, they show movies to the troop in the mess hall to let a little steam out and bolster morale. Last night they showed Here Comes the Boom with Kevin James. I have been a fan of James since The King of Queen days and, yes, I did see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Even I can admit that Paul Blart was not a good movie. Though it had its scant charms and made a boat load of money at the box office (much more than its budget). Here Comes the Boom is a home run compared to the base hit of Paul Blart.

Here Comes the Boom is about a disenchanted biology High School teacher that takes to Mixed Martial Arts fighting (all he has to do is loose) to win enough money to save the music department from going under, taking the best teacher in the school and genuine nice guy under with it. It didn’t win an Oscar or anything but I feel it is a movie you should certainly try to see. It is a very nice showcase for James’ talents and also includes charming parts for Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler and MMA fighter Bas Rutten. Have we seen the framework of this story before? Yes. Is it side-splitting funny? Not really. However, it is chuckle funny and a nice alternative to the R rated comedies laced with profanity and gross out humor popular at the moment.

James also co-wrote the movie and it seems that he is taking great care to make certain kinds of vehicles for himself. If Here Comes the Boom is where his groove is, I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next. You may rarely hear a kind word from the film critics for what James makes, but James doesn’t really make films. I don’t think he wants to make films. He makes movies. He wants to entertain in the most genial way. All he wants is your smile for an hour and a half. This time, he got it from me.