Good if you can keep the foul-mouthed, political incorrectness in perspective

Rating: 6/10 (8 January 2009)

If you were writing a paper on political incorrectness, dirty language, and obscene behavior in film and you were trying to find its roots, you would certainly find "Slap Shot" to be one of the earliest examples. For 1977, this film is absolutely littered with it, and considering it's that old, some of what was politically incorrect back then is even more politically incorrect now. This is not a film for the sensitive people, particularly sensitive people that are feminists or homosexuals--unless you can keep it all in perspective.
"Slap Shot" is a sports comedy, but by sports comedy I mean it is more a celebration of childish, hyper-masculinity. The legendary Paul Newman stars in one of his few comedic turns as Reggie Dunlop, the player head coach of the Charlestown Chiefs, a B-league hockey team with abysmal attendance and a losing record. When the local mill announces it will shut down, putting townies out of jobs and without cash to support bad hockey, the Chiefs announce it will be their last season. Dunlop, now staring retirement in the face, decides to promote violence as a way to energize his players, win games, and draw attendance in hopes that the team will be sold.
The premise alone glorifies violence (operating on the assumption that people will pay to see it) and the film showboats physical humor. Hockey games consist of almost nothing but fight scenes. It's funny at times, but quite redundant. Insulting other players is also part of the agenda, whether calling them gay, their spouse gay, or other insults to their manhood. Some of the humor is the absurdity of the insults and the absurdity of these low-life hockey goon characters that shout them.
Bottom line is this a guy's film. Don't even watch it with your girlfriend, that's how politically incorrect it is. Even the obnoxious masculine humor aside, the drama consists of following these guys around and showing their even worse off-the-rink habits. Even if you're girlfriend loves Paul Newman--and he's good--but he's good in the not very socially acceptable way. These characters are all uneducated, except the one who not coincidentally doesn't fight, and know nothing else but hockey. You kind of even pity them at times.
That's not to say this film uses that stuff as a crutch, because there is comedy that is a bit more acceptable to all in the film, but the pervasive attitude is dirty, plain dirty. You either have to like that or be able to deal with it to enjoy this film.