The Hammer – Review

As Jerry Ferro (Carolla) turns 40, a usual life crisis is upon him. He is still following his dreams, but he still goes to his crappy day-job and gets yelled at by his crappy boss in construction. His lunch for the day? Cactus. What a life. As his boss insults everyone on the worksite, Jerry sets a belt sander to shoot through the man’s truck windshield.

Now looking for a new job, Jerry goes to the gym to box. The man used to be good back in the day, but now he just messes around. After taking a few bucks to fight a local pro, he winds up with a training gig, which is a much better fit for him. As a real plot finally emerges, Jerry has to push himself to an actual path towards an actual life goal of his. Can this amateur boxer make something more of his career at this point?

Adam Carolla may be known for his brand of comedy and comes with plenty of snark and jokey action here, but he gives the main role his all and delivers plenty of solemn emotion and reality to match the laughs. His heavy left hand rings true and mostly the film comes across as genuine despite the comedic edge. The script has plenty of clever lines in the mix with the “comeback kid” story, and the runtime is short so the pace is relatively quick.

While the romance, sports, or mid-life reinvention angles of the script may all be by the numbers, this is a pretty harmless comedy that is worth it overall and is relatively underseen.