Over the last decade or so, Kevin James has found his niche. He stars in wacky, slapstick movies about bumbling losers who are defined by their occupations. Think of it as the big screen version of the Simpsons episodes where Homer gets a new job for a few days and everything goes wrong. Whether he’s a mall cop or a zookeeper, as long as Kevin James is falling down a lot and mugging for the camera, filmgoing audiences seem to come out en masse. At first glance, Here Comes the Boom seems to be the latest film that sticks to what has now become James’ M.O. Here he’s playing a schlubby high school teacher who tries to join the world of mixed martial arts in order to make a quick buck. Predictably, Kevin fall down and go boom. But a funny thing happens as you keep watching the new Here Comes the Boom trailer. It starts to become clear that this isn’t James’ usual slapstick movie at all. Sure, there’s some of that in here, but this time he seems to be serving up a whole new tonal spin on things. Instead of being a wacky comedy, this one looks like it’s James taking a swing at making a legitimate, sappy sports drama. Here he isn’t the goofy teacher who’s in over his head, he’s the hero teacher who will go to any lengths to help his kids. He isn’t the fat guy who looks funny trying to do things

Last week on Reject Radio, the question came up as to whether a screenwriter working on a Kevin James film actually writes a detailed description of the joke being told or if he simply writes “Kevin fall down.” The mystery remained unsolved, but Hollywood is giving the world another clue with an untitled project starring James. He’ll play a physics teacher who ends up spending his nights as a mixed martial arts fighter in order to help a financially ailing school and best friend.

With two down, Soderbergh is soldiering through after Moneyball fell through. Staying inside the world of espionage, it looks like he may have a gorgeous, talented MMA star by his side for Knockout.