Enjoyable romp

Rating: Null/10 (20 July 2002)

In Slap Shot, a hockey club hires a trio of thugs to beef up its mediocre hockey team.
Fresh and unexpected, this is one of the best of Paul Newman's mid-period movies (also note "The Drowning Pool"). Set vaguely in Canada or upstate New York, the picture loses steam in the second half and gets bogged down in soap opera; but the memorable first match appearance by the Hanson Brothers--the aforementioned thugs--is a magical movie moment, not to be missed.
"Slap" takes the time to investigate an array of pro sports themes: sadistic player violence; boorish sexuality; fan behavior; fan loyalty to athletes and vice-versa (or total absence thereof); the bloodless, detached world of athletic club ownership. But the film is better than the snide satire it has been portrayed to be, and in its own manic way, it conveys much of the joy of sports.