Adam Carolla screams "average" to me. He's not quite handsome, not quite unattractive. He's not quite hilarious, not quite lame. He's not quite engaging, not quite grating. He's just ... average. So how the hell did the guy pull off such an above average little movie?

In The Hammer, Carolla plays Jerry Ferro, a once-promising amateur boxer. He's turning 40 and things are looking pretty bleak. His only friend (a very funny Oswaldo Castillo) barely speaks English. He's in an unsatisfying relationship. His construction career is going nowhere. And he just used a maxi pad as a coffee filter. (Don't ask.) When an old-school boxing coach (Tom Quinn) asks him to be the sparring partner for a cocky Olympic hopeful (Harold House Moore), Ferro figures he's got nothing to lose. Before you know it, Ferro's competitive spirit has returned, and he is training to return to the ring himself.

We're celebrating the independent spirit (and giving a tip of the hat to our companion site Cinematical Indie), and looking at trailers for films that have gestated outside the studio system. This week it's all about the indies.

The Visitor
A professor who finds himself coasting through the day to day requirements of his job finds a young couple squatting in the New York apartment that he rarely uses. After a tense initial confrontation, the professor finds the two have nowhere else to go and allows them to stay. Just as a friendship is beginning to develop, one of the professor's new tenants is arrested, and as he is not a U.S. citizen, is in danger of deportation. This looks to be an earnest little drama about friendship and rediscovering what's important. This one goes into limited U.S. release on April 11. Scott Weinberg caught the film at Sundance and you can read his review here.

The Hammer
No, this has nothing to do with the pop star with the baggy pants. I really liked Adam Carolla during his stint as co-host of The Man Show, and his voice work as Spanky Ham on Comedy Central's animated series Drawn Together is tastelessly hilarious. I wouldn't have imagined him playing the lead in a film, but he comes off as very appealing here. Carolla plays Jerry Ferro, a middle aged former amateur boxer. By day he works construction and in his spare time he teaches boxing. When he's asked to spar with an up and coming fighter, Ferro manages to clean his opponents clock as they say and he decides to get back into the game. Basically it's the story of a man trying to get his act together before it's too late. There's a few laughs here, and I think the movie will be worth a look.