Okay, so this movie opened a few weeks back and nobody really cared about it then (it was something of a flop on opening weekend) so I’ll just keep this review nice and trim. Don’t worry though, I have plenty of other reviews coming up later in the day…
What Works: This movie (about Kevin James’s teacher fighting MMA to raise enough money to save Henry Winkler’s music teacher’s job) isn’t all that funny, but it is surprisingly warm, semi-realistic, and an all around decent time. James gives a shockingly strong, subtle turn as a guy underplaying nearly everything, and he and Salma Hayek (as, what else? the hot school nurse he tries to win over) develop an unlikely chemistry. [Kind of like how he and Rosario Dawson had a seemingly-impossible heat in last year’s Zookeeper. Watch your back Latinas of Hollywood, James may be your most surprising casanova.] Plus, it’s nice to see a movie that doesn’t relentlessly blame teachers for all the evils of public education.
What Doesn’t Work: Did I mention the movie isn’t all that funny? Although it’s a nice time, it never morphs into a great one. There’s a weird lack of energy coming off of it, and it never builds excitement the way a sports movie should. Some scenes are so haphazardly constructed, it feels like you’re waiting for a punchline that never comes.
What I Would Have Done Differently: I’m afraid to say “Make if funnier” because that would probably involve Sandler-izing it to include more piss and shit jokes, which would actually have made it worse. Henry Winkler’s soft music teacher shines as a guy thrown into this MMA-style world, so maybe he could have been used more for comic relief.