Video Back-Log: "Goon"

**original release date: 2/24/2012**

It's no mystery to those that know me I've never been the biggest fan of sports movies.  But every once and while, like "The Blind Side" or the under-rated "Wimbeldon", one catches my attention.


Though not in the same caliber as "The Blind Side", hockey comedy/drama "Goon" manages to make you laugh as hard as you cheer in this bizarre underdog tale.  Often crass and over-the-top, "Goon" encompasses  everything that is great about hockey while making it accessible to non-sports-watchers such as myself.


After watching his idol Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber) for years, bouncer Doug Glatt (Sean William Scott) gets a chance of a lifetime when he angrily squares off against a hockey player, is seen by the rival coach, and is instantly made a hockey player.  Driven by encouragement from his best friend Ryan (Jay Baruchel), Doug becomes the enforcer (the guy responsible for all the fights on the ice) for the Halifax Highlanders.  


Soon becoming an overnight sensation, Doug is quickly faced with disappointing his intellectual parents (Eugene Levy, Ellen David), his team because he's not the greatest skater, and falling for hockey fan Eva (Alison Pill), who, by the way, already has a boyfriend.


Director Michael Dowse (the wonderfully under-rated "Take Me Home Tonight"), with writers Jay Baruchel (feature film debut) and Evan Goldberg ("Superbad"), turn the sports movie on its head.  The typical humor you would expect from a writer of "Superbad" with the intense, uncensored action of hockey, this team creates a movie that is violent and goofy, yet still manages to hold up to other great sports comedies like "Major League" and "Necessary Roughness".


Seann Willam Scott is wonderful as Doug, the enforcer with a heart of gold.  This is a role that Scott was virtually born to play:  ruthless, somewhat dim-witted, but ultimately a great guy.  It's nice to see him stray away from the Stiffler character from "American Pie".  The rest of the cast is great here, but this truly is Doug's story, and Scott is great in the spotlight.


Based on the book by Doug "The Hammer" Smith and Adam Frattasio, which is about Smith's actual career in hockey, "Goon" is hard-hitting good time.  It doesn't do much for the good name of hockey, I'm sure (we really don't see much puck-work until the last game in the movie), and its crass dialogue can be off-putting at times.  But, in reality, have you ever listened to any athletes talk amongst themselves in the locker room?  Let's just say they're not the most eloquent of speakers.  So, in a way, "Goon" is a bit more grounded in the gritty underbelly of professional sports that the public never gets to see, and it's fun as hell to watch.


FINAL VERDICT:  Though not an Oscar contender by any stretch of the imagination, "Goon" is a really fun, bizarrely inspiring, underdog tale set in the world of professional hockey.  Sure, it has more bloodshed and curse words than "Miracle", but it's hard not to root for the film any less.