Goon

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2013)

Seann William Scott is actually--I can't believe I'm writing this--endearing (!) as a simple-minded bouncer who finds his happy place as a "goon" (the member of the team who beats the hell out of people and protects the star) on a struggling (this is being kind) hockey team trying to just win a game. The star of the team is the disgraced Xavier LaFlamme(Marc-André Grondin), so low that he spits on his team's logo out of disgust. Xavier shares a room with Scott's Doug Glatt, and he makes no bones that he doesn't like him. But because Doug harbors no ill will, has a big lug of a heart, and ingratiates himself to his team and Xavier, this dislike might just subside. The film's key story arc--besides Doug's budding romance with Eve (Alison Pill)--is the comparisons between Doug and soon-to-be-retiring thuggish warrior, Rhea (Liev Schrieber), both on teams fighting to get into the playoffs. Rhea has been celebrated as the tough, intimidating fighter with limited hockey skills but featuring a ruthless aggression that most hockey players care to avoid, with Doug considered his "replacement". Rhea knows that he must put Doug in his place, but he realizes that Platt isn't some self-absorbed, conceited showoff, but a true, dye-in-the-wool team player who puts his men above himself. Also Doug isn't the monster off the hockey rink he is on; in fact, Doug is a sweet-natured, mental-intellect-of-a-child, gentle soul who uses his fists and body to protect and win for his team, no matter how limited a capacity his skills might be. He becomes the heart and soul of his team while Xavier is clearly the gifted, talented hockey player needing that motivational shot-in-the-arm Doug provides just because of his team spirit. This is a brutal, fight-heavy, battered faces, bloodthirsty, exciting, fast-moving, no-guts-no-glory, profane, spirited hockey movie. It's kickass. If you like lots of scenes where Seann's face takes a licking, swells, with bruises and larges cuts, while he sends his opponents off the rink in stretchers (after bashing their faces in), then this is for you. Schrieber is an absolute badass as the taunting heckler who backs up his remarks to opposing teams by shutting faces by sending players into unconsciousness. His closing battle with Seann is visceral and thrilling. My favorite scene--Seann stops a puck from entering the goal with his face while a rival player comes down on his ankle with a skate blade (ouch!). Jay Baruchel has a sizable supporting part as Seann's potty-mouthed buddy, often recording the hockey games and making rather obscene comments that cause the parents of Glatt (including Eugene Levy, toning down his comedy for a rather serious part as a father who is concerned for his son's safety and career) to groan/frown.