Much of the film's charm comes from its scruffy, self-effacing modesty; it's a relaxed, affable underdog about a relaxed, affable underdog.

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 5, 2011

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.

Full Review | Oct 5, 2011

I think it's a terrific little film.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2008

Working with utterly predictable material, screenwriter Kevin Hench finds plenty of offbeat humor, and Carolla knows how to make it sing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 21, 2008

I never would have guessed that Adam Carolla, the politically incorrect radio and 온라인카지노추천 personality, could hold his own in a movie, but here's The Hammer to prove me wrong.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 21, 2008

[Adam] Carolla's grumbly, monotoned, stoop-shouldered pessimism in The Hammer, the first feature he has penned, is actually funny.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 21, 2008

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.

| Mar 21, 2008

Carolla has a tendency to riff when he should be acting, and the whole project is rambling and disorganized. At the same time, though, The Hammer also has dry wit and unforced working-class swagger, and hits some surprising emotional notes.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 21, 2008

The script depends heavily on familiar stand-up comedy bits, but it's full of sharp wisecracks and slacker charm.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 21, 2008

Like the boxer himself, the flick is flabby but light on its feet, ultimately exceeding expectations

| Original Score: B- | Mar 20, 2008

It's no classic, but, unlike recent attempts at sports comedy (we're looking at you, Semi-Pro), The Hammer comes through by not seeming to try too hard.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Mar 20, 2008

The Hammer isn't going to sneak past Raging Bull in the boxing-movie pantheon (or even Rocky, for that matter). But like its star, it is an underdog you can root for.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 20, 2008

Remaking Rocky Balboa as a comedy isn't a half-bad idea; remaking it as a comedy starring Adam Carolla, the dreadfully unfunny former host of Loveline and The Man Show, most certainly is a terrible one.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 20, 2008

If you liked Rocky Balboa you should be in good shape, since it's exactly the same movie, just aimed at a teeny-tiny-bit younger demographic and with an affectless leading man who avoids hambone acting by not acting at all.

| Mar 19, 2008

[Adam] Carolla's gangling charm and improv rhythms nicely loosen up helmer Charles Herman-Wurmfeld's studied setups without ever deviating from the story's solid underlying structure.

| Mar 19, 2008

It's surprising the film doesn't feature lesbians jumping on trampolines.

| Mar 18, 2008

The movie benefits from unpretentiousness; it never takes itself too seriously.

Full Review | Mar 10, 2008