Film Review - Goon

Hockey fans rejoice! A modern day Canadian hockey tale has come to cinemas and it will get your blood pumping and make you wonder if there is a hockey game playing tonight. I had the pleasure of attending the premiere in Montreal and got a chance to talk to the stars about their very Canadian oriented project. Director Michael Dowse was quite excited about premiering the film at the Amc Forum; it was a perfect fit for the night’s hockey theme.

The film is based on the novel Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith which tells the tale of Smith’s career as a hockey enforcer. Sean William Scott plays Doug Glatt, the uninspired bouncer who is very good at crowd control. Unfortunately he feels unfulfilled and bored with his life and wants to be a part of something where he feels wanted and important. Jay Baruchel, who also co-wrote the script, plays his vulgar and hilarious friend, Pat. Baruchel’s character brings him to a hockey game where Doug’s true talent comes out to shine. He gets into a fight with a hockey player and pretty much knocks him out cold within seconds. The coach notices his iron fists and offers him a chance to show him what he’s got on the ice.

A couple hilarious scenes later, Doug gets his footing down enough to start playing in games to help protect the more important players. He gets a gracious offer from the Halifax Highlanders to help protect their prime player Xavier Laflamme, played by the very talented and handsome Marc-André Grondin. He delivers his dialogue with humor and a ton of sex appeal; he definitely stirs up the hockey fantasy I have stored away. He makes it look like he belongs on the ice and feels comfortable leading the team to victory, but his career takes a nosedive because of drug use and the bad boy party animal he loves to release. The plot thickens when a crushing hit from Ross Rhea, played by the wonderful Liev Schreiber, injures Xavier. Laflamme has not been playing as well since the injuring and his performance is affected by his fear to be crushed against the boards again. Here comes the hero Glatt to protect the lesser confident Xavier. The story unfolds and Glatt becomes a part of the team and is destined to fight the legendary bone crushing Ross Rhea. They finally meet during playoffs and the payoff is a bloody good time.

There is nothing more exciting then when the players drop their gloves and it is on like Donkey Kong. Glatt fights his way to acceptance from the team and they become a hilarious dysfunctional family. The other team players are all characters on their own but they allow Grondin and Scott to shine through the vast amount of humor portrayed with some locker room shenanigans.

If you have ever enjoyed a hockey game then this film is for you. The dialogue is modern and vulgar, just like my own vocabulary during hockey games. The fights are realistic and fun to watch. The angles are closer than the ones we usually see during real hockey games, therefore we get to see the blood spatter much better, and a couple teeth are lost here and there, which is an image I associate with our love of the game.

The film was filmed in Winnipeg and should be very proud to be Canadian. I managed to catch an elevator ride with Baruchel and he mentioned how proud he was of this film; he was very excited and grinning from ear to ear. He mentioned his favorite hockey film was Slapshot and hopes that his own project will go down in hockey film history. I enjoyed it immensely and I laughed out loud more then twice, as I’m sure you will. Hockey is a huge part of our city and Goon made me want to lace up my skates on, grab a fluorescent orange puck and get to the rink with some buds and beer. See the film and have some fun!

3.5 out of 5 stars

-Andrea Boulet