Comedy that serves a generous dollop of blood & splatter amongst the ice hockey.

Rating: 6/10 (16 June 2012)

It's a bloody comedy.
That's not profanity, Goon is a comedy that serves a generous dollop of blood and teeth splattering across ice, face and anything else in its way.
It's violent, it's funny, it's violent, it's about ice hockey and it's violent.
Lost amongst the high-profile cinema listings of The Iron Lady, The Artist and other such worthy films vying for gongs, Goon is not a threat to their glory and a perfect opportunity to sink into your cinema seat and enjoy laughing and grimacing in equal measures.
Inspired by actual events, Goon is the story of the runt of a litter, Glatt, (played by Seann William Scott, Stifler in American Pie), the black sheep in a family of intellectuals who discovers his 'thing' is beating the crap out of anything that offends. He's spotted pummelling an opposing player by a hockey coach and brought into a team despite a complete ineptitude on skates. He doesn't last long before being palmed off on a lower league team with little skill and less hope whose star player is a washed up loner who's afraid of being bumped.
Glatt's job is to protect the team and fight any player that gets in their way. Obviously, this being a David and Goliath film, he becomes the unlikely glue that sticks the broken team together again. If that's a plot spoiler for you, you evidently don't go to the cinema often enough. The enjoyment this film gives is not in the resolution to the story but the manner in which it finds it.
There's no great depth; you're not going to be challenged mentally or emotionally and it isn't going to warrant a mention in your Top Ten of 2012 but it is bloody good fun. That's not so say it's perfect. It's not. There are times when, actually, it isn't even very good. It has its fair share of dips and there are some scenes clunkier than John Sargent dancing. Quite often the expletives are tedious and there for effect rather than reason and break up what might otherwise be a good verbal exchange. The love story aspect is superfluous and the platonic friendship between star players improves as quickly as flicking on the light switch.
However, Goon delivers more guffaws than most comedies of late (The Guard a notable exception) and (pacifists look away) some of the violence is just plain funny. I don't propose you try this at home but it transpires it is very funny watching a guy have a hockey stick wrapped round his head.
And how can you not admire a film that has the genius of such lines as "You make me wanna stop sleeping with a bunch of guys."
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