“The Hammer” hits the comedy nail on the head

Adam Carolla has always been a bob-and-weave kind of comic – whining about this, riffing on that, finding humor in the details. Unlike funnymen who honed their sweet science in stand-up comedy clubs, the former "Man Show" host isn't one to rely on the punch line.

In The Hammer,  starring Carolla as an aging never-been who makes an unlikely run at Olympic boxing glory, the comedian has found a custom-made vehicle for his precise comedic jabs. No, the movie's not knock-you-to-the-floor funny, but it is immensely likeable, with a bouncy, non-farcical rhythm largely gone missing from the sports comedy genre. Adapted by first-time screenwriter Kevin Hench from an original story by Carolla, the movie essentially lets Carolla – a walking home-improvement encyclopedia and former amateur boxer – envision his life as it might have been, had he never become a snarky, nasal-voiced radio and television mainstay.

Meet Jerry Ferro (Carolla), a construction-site lifer who turns 40 and has nothing to show for it, aside from a quick wit, an old pickup truck and a faithful Nicaraguan sidekick named Oswaldo (Oswaldo Castillo, a regular on Carolla's morning radio show).

Jerry, a one-time Golden Gloves boxer, can still punch a little, too – which is why a well-connected boxing coach (Tom Quinn) recruits him to compete in the upcoming Olympic trials. (Carolla, in his "Frampton Comes Alive" T-shirt, cuts a comical but convincing figure in the ring.) Unbeknownst to Jerry, he's being played. The coach just needs a hard-hitting southpaw to help groom his up-and-coming light heavyweight star, Robert (Harold House Moore). After all, it's easier to give the would-be palooka false hope than pay him $100 a day to spar. As sports-flick plotlines go, it's all fairly predictable. Jerry does much better than expected – so good, in fact, that he just might face Robert in a winner-take-all Olympic qualification showdown.

What makes The Hammer worthwhile is the way director Charles Herman-Wurmfeld (Kissing Jessica Stein) creatively weaves Carolla's free-style shtick into the beats. There's a spot-on scene in a hardware store where Jerry argues "foundation bolting" and "galvanized comet-heads" with an unimpressed lesbian ("Best in Show" scene-stealer Jane Lynch) and a tepid but oddly endearing romantic subplot involving a cute lawyer (Heather Juergensen) from his boxing class.

If Carolla goes another few rounds on the big screen, he'll do it in offbeat character pieces like The Hammer, where a joke-filled date at L.A.'s La Brea Tar Pits serves nicely in lieu of sex appeal. You've heard the term "a face for radio"? Carolla has one for boxing, too.

The Hammer
Stars: Adam Carolla, Oswaldo Castillo, Heather Juergensen, Harold House Moore
Behind the scenes: Directed by Charles Herman-Wurmfeld, from a script by Kevin Hench
Rated: R (brief language)
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Grade: B