Great Hockey Conundrum...

Rating: 5/10 (9 March 2020)

Let me preface this by saying - I do enjoy the morally devoid film from time to time. Rating and reviewing this film is an interesting challenge because it can be looked at as groundbreaking in some ways (appears to have inspired films such as Semi-Pro) and yet it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis. It attempts to create an atmosphere devoid of hope and yet insists upon being a raunchy Americanized comedy. The comedy does tend to shine through at times but the lack of chemistry and empathy by characters is odd and forces a sense of disconnection.
Another potential issue is that there are an abundance of morally bankrupt characters (such as Wanchuk) that are so deplorable that it nearly begs you to dislike the "heroes". In some ways nearly every character in this flawed so greatly that they are anti-heroes.
Profanity argument aside (that part I take no personal offense to) - this film seems an imperfect time capsule from the late 1970s. I really wanted to enjoy this - so many 9s and 10s and I enjoy hockey as well. To me this has not aged well but likely was quite a gem in the early to mid 80s. Well this may fit into the category of cult classic bear in mind that not all cult classics are great movies.