The Hammer

Name: The Hammer
Genre: Sport, Comedy, Romance
Released: March 21, 2008
Duration: 88 min
Rating: 57
Cast: Adam Carolla, Heather Juergensen, Oswaldo Castillo

2008

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 12 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 39 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 39 Ratings

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The Hammer

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Movie Details & Credits

Weinstein Company, The | Release Date: March 21, 2008 | R

Starring: Adam Carolla, Heather Juergensen, Oswaldo Castillo

Summary: Jerry Ferro's 40th birthday has brought his life into sharp relief, and it's not a pretty picture. A once-promising amateur boxer who quit so he wouldn't risk his perfect record of underachievement, Jerry has been knocking around from one construction job to another and spinning his wheels in an unsatisfying relationship, all the while withJerry Ferro's 40th birthday has brought his life into sharp relief, and it's not a pretty picture. A once-promising amateur boxer who quit so he wouldn't risk his perfect record of underachievement, Jerry has been knocking around from one construction job to another and spinning his wheels in an unsatisfying relationship, all the while with an eye toward eventually getting his shit together. His last connection to the fight game is the evening boxing class he teaches to middle-aged, middle-class, middle-management types at a gym in Pasadena, where he also works as a handyman. When venerable boxing coach Eddie Bell asks Jerry if he'd like to spar a couple of rounds with Malice Blake, an up-and-coming pro, Jerry reluctantly steps into the ring. Despite the butt-kicking Jerry otherwise receives, a one-punch knockdown of Blake convinces Jerry that it's time to make his return to competitive boxing. Thus ends a 20-year layoff and begins a hilarious fish-out-of-water quest for Olympic gold. (Independent Film Circuit)… Expand

Director: Charles Herman-Wurmfeld

Genre(s): Sport, Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 88 min

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Critic Reviews

TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh

It's genuinely funny, oddly romantic and surprisingly engaging for what could easily have been an obnoxious vanity project. Read full review

Walter Addiego

Nothing groundbreaking, but there's an easy charm in the movie. Read full review

Joe Neumaier

The Hammer benefits from Carolla's low-energy, low-impact style. He doesn't so much deliver quips as let them dribble out the side of his mouth. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

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 (and reveals a quietly subversive attitude toward the boxing-movie genre). Read full review

Stephen Farber

The film hardly could be credited with breaking any new ground, but it has a hangdog charm, much like its leading actor. Read full review

Matt Zoller Seitz

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. Read full review

Bill White

Plays like a pilot for a situation comedy about a 40-year-old carpenter who decides to return to the boxing ring. Read full review

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User Reviews

DerekG

Jun 29, 2009

I went in to The Hammer expecting the worst: Two hours of Carolla's frank, dry observational humor with a tacked on story. What I got was a surprisingly deep and even touching story of a 40 year old never-was trying to make something of himself. The acting is all charming and well I went in to The Hammer expecting the worst: Two hours of Carolla's frank, dry observational humor with a tacked on story. What I got was a surprisingly deep and even touching story of a 40 year old never-was trying to make something of himself. The acting is all charming and well casted, the music is top notch for an independent project, and it all works very well. I was on the brink of tears when I wasn't laughing out loud.… Expand