Do you remember when Kevin James was funny? I do. I was a huge fan. I was an avid watcher of “The King of Queens” and his stand-up DVD “Sweat the Small Stuff” is funny every time you pop it in. Then he was in Hitch and was quite good, essentially stealing the show from Will Smith. And then he sold his soul…

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Grown Ups

The Zookeeper

The Dilemma

Well now he’s out from under the Happy Madison umbrella (well, at least until Grown Ups 2 comes out) and he’s giving us a different side, as evidenced by the above picture. In Here Comes the Boom, James plays a high school biology teacher who begins fighting MMA to raise money for the school’s extracurricular activities budget. Here’s the first trailer:

It’s not bad at all. In fact, it’s above average, I’d say. This is the James that I remember and really enjoy watching. The supporting cast should help him out (Salma Hayek as the dream girl/fellow teacher is a nice touch and Henry Winkler as a probably eccentric elder teacher is spot-on) and the dramatic physicality of the film will mean James will have to bring his A game. I always enjoy a good underdog flick. I thoroughly enjoyed Adam Carolla’s The Hammer (whichBoomappears to model itself off of a little bit in that there will be humor mixed in with all of the serious training) and boxing/fighting films are rarely, if ever, boring. I can’t see why I wouldn’t check this out in some capacity, it’s just not a complete home run for a theater visit.

But it’s close.

♥♥♥1/2

Will I be the only one in the theater on this one, or do you think audiences will give James a shot when he’s not either sporting a goofy mall cop mustache or talking to Nick Nolte-voiced gorillas?