Ridiculous - of course, but Clever - absolutely.

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2006)

Despite how many times I've been told that Slapshot is just a stupid sports movie, I am willing to take my admiration for this film to the grave with me. Slapshot is easily one of the most clever comedies ever written, and most definitely one of the better sports films of all time. What it lacks in seriousness or artistic merit that a movie like Raging Bull might have (it's hard to compare Slapshot with Scorsese), it makes up for in extremely clever, pointed dialogue and a brilliantly written relationship between the entirety of the cast. Michael Ontkean is outstanding, even more so than he was as Sheriff Harry S. Truman in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and of course Paul Newman gives the movie the star quality it probably needed to flourish.
Don't knock this movie for being just a stupid sports film. It may be exactly that, but for Slapshot, that's all its trying to be, and it's not a bad thing.