Side splitting sports headbanger

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2015)

I'm not usually one for sports movies. In fact I think I can count on one hand the ones I actually, really enjoyed. Goon, however, which skates miles ahead of all the others, is my favorite sports movie ever made, and one of my top comedies, period. It's written, acted and conveyed to its audience with such rowdy enthusiasm and earnest, lifelike character interaction that simply demands classic status. It's a film about hockey, but it's also not. It's mainly a film about dudes kicking the absolute ever loving crap out of each other, in some really impressive ice rink gladiatorial smackdowns to rival anything in Gladiator itself. It concerns players who are drafted based on their brute force alone, to distract, demolish and destroy their opposing team members, leaving the ice clear for the faster, more skilled players to go score a ton of goals. One such 'goon' is Doug Glatt (Sean William Scott), a big lovable dunce with a peanut brain, kind heart and the sheer force of a juggernaut hurricane when on the ice. Scott ditches the Stiffler shtick for a quieter brand of silliness, and he's never been better. When his brutal tactics are witnessed by small time coach '' Hortense (Nicholas Campbell, loopy perfection), he's sent to the farm leagues under the snarky rule of his brother, Coach Ronnie Hortense (Kim Coates). Saskatoon native Coates doesn't seem to know how to not steal any scene he's ever been in, and he's side-splitting here, a tornado of cynical, hopped up rage and pissy energy. His drunken speech is a highlight. Glatt soon meets his team, including spoiled golden boy prodigy turned relentless coke head Laflamme (Marc Andre Godin) skeevy Russian brothers Evgeny and Oleg, and hilarious Canadian whackjob Belchier (Jonathan Cherry). They're a pissss poor motley crew of morons, and they're losing their season spectacularly. Glatt's sweet disposition, blind optimism and invincible uppercuts soon turn things around for the better, though, until he meets his nemesis, Ross Rhea (Liev Schreiber) another legendary thug with bone crunching plans for Doug. Schreiber is priceless, sporting a handlebar 'stache you could rope swing from, and a demented Canadian accent eh, clearly having the most fun in his career so far. Jay Baruchel shows up as Doug's crude DJ buddy, Alison Pill as Doug's slutty love interest, and Eugene Levy as his unappreciative father. The scenes of ice bound action are crisply filmed, the fight scenes exploding in triumphantly bloody standoffs of R rated glory. The humour comes hard and fast from a whip smart script that's faster than the puck, sharper than the skates and funnier than any other sports themed flick I've seen before.