Here Comes the BoomMovie Reviews

No
Avg. Critic Score: 40 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
9 OK for kids 9+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 63
    Chicago Tribune | Michael Phillips

    Once it gets going and commits to its time-worn inspirational formula, it's not half-bad. Read full review

  • 63
    USA Today | Scott Bowles

    When the comedy connects, it can deliver with funny force Read full review

  • 50
    The Globe and Mail (Toronto) | Stephen Cole

    A farther-fetched fantasy: In addition to asking we believe our loosely packed academic can play Rocky, Here Comes the Boom imagines a world in which butterball Everyman Scott and the fabulously lush Bella (Salma Hayek) might argue and bill and coo and eventually fall in love. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    The pure mechanics of Here Comes the Boom land it in an enjoyable, if forgettable, space. Read full review

  • 50
    Boston Globe | Janice Page

    Kevin James's latest comedy doesn't promise any bing or bang, only boom. Take it at its word. Read full review

  • 50
    ReelViews | James Berardinelli

    Here Comes the Boom is stale and vanilla. We know we're in trouble early when the first joke fails. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post |

    What's missing from this color-by-numbers screenplay is the bizarre touch of eccentric humor Sandler often lets creep into his comedies. Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    A cloddish, harmlessly drecky comedy from the Sandler factory of crude mush. Read full review

  • 40
    Movieline |

    The first half hour of Here Comes the Boom is so good moviegoers might be fooled into expecting something better than an obvious wish fulfillment fantasy so patently implausible it's almost insulting. Read full review

  • 40
    New York Daily News | Joe Neumaier

    All banality, though it delivers some goodwill even as it pulls a muscle trying to get its premise going. Read full review

View more reviews for Here Comes the Boom on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 9+ Teacher turns MMA fighter in tween-friendly comedy.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Here Comes the Boom is an action comedy about a teacher who decides to compete in MMA matches to save his school's music department. Even though it deals with a violent sport, there's not too much blood, although there are plenty of bruises, injuries, and hand-to-hand (and foot!) combat. Language and romance are tame (sparing use of words like "ass" and "hell" for the former; some flirting, a date, and one kiss for the latter ), and the messages support the importance of arts education and standing up for what you believe in.
  • Families can talk about movies about teachers. Why are public school teachers usually portrayed as either terrible or amazing? Is that realistic?
  • Mr. Voss and Mr. Streb are an unlikely pair. What do they each teach the other? Why do they each consider the other a "hero"?
  • How does Here Comes the Boom compare to other films about high school teachers?
The good stuff
  • message true3 Positive messages: This is a movie about teachers recapturing what inspires them about educating -- and the idea that one person can make a difference. There's also a positive message about the importance of music education in public schools. And, of course, to always follow your dreams.
  • rolemodels true3 Positive role models: Mr. Streb is a fabulous music teacher who's invested in his students, repairs instruments for lower-income students, and is generally known as a superstar teacher. Mr. Voss starts out uninterested in his teaching career but ends up recommitting himself to his students and to what motivated him to become a teacher in the first place.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: The Mixed Martial Arts training sessions and competitions are realistically brutal. Although they're occasionally comedic, they definitely leave Mr. Voss (and his opponents) punched, scraped, bruised, and injured (sometimes with blood). MMA is up close and hand-to-hand, and there's lots of kicking and punching. Two incidents of vomiting -- which is gross but then becomes comedic.
  • sex false1 Sexy stuff: Mr. Voss flirts with Mrs. Flores every chance he gets, and at the very end he gets his kiss. Salma Hayek wears a couple of cleavage-revealing but not overly risque tops.
  • language false2 Language: A couple of uses of "ass," "hell," "crap," and "oh my God," plus some scatological humor (the vomiting) and mild insults: "stupid," "sucks," "loser," etc.
  • consumerism false2 Consumerism: A few product placements, like Wise potato chips, World's Deadliest Car Chases, Triumph motorcycle, Affliction clothing, Columbia fleece jacket, Diet Coke.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
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