Hansons don't disappoint, but the movie does...

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2001)

When forced to admit to my hockey-playing friends that I had never seen "Slap Shot", I was always greeted by a slapping of the forehead and the admonishment that I simply MUST go rent it and experience the best hockey movie ever. I did this, and I hate to admit that I was disappointed by a movie that so many people seem to love so much. Almost from the very beginning of the movie, I wasn't sure if I was watching a drama or a broad physical comedy, and this is a main beef I have with many of these 70's films. Too many of them would mix dramatics with humor in a way that is not satisfying to me. The story is very rambling until the Hansons arrive and I hungered to see them do funny things like beat people up in creative ways, but that is a long ways in the coming after their introduction. Paul Newman sees the "Boys" playing with their slot cars and comments that they "brought their TOYS with them!" on the road trip. This is funny and should have been explored more, but it isn't. As a matter of fact, the Hanson's and their background are not explored at all, and they have a small amount of total screen time. This is too bad because they are the best part of the movie. Paul Newman is a great actor and he plays a well-worn old player who is on the slide down in his career just as the steel town they play in is on a slide down with everyone becoming laid-off. But if you are like me and want to see cool hockey footage of guys playing without helmets, wacky stuff happening at the rink, the Hanson brothers doing their thing, etc. , there just isn't enough of it there. If this movie was made today, there would be less social commentary, less human interest, more Hansons, and more hockey. And, sadly, it would probably be a better movie because of it. See it so you know what it is to "put on the foil , Coach", and so your friends don't slap their foreheads when you say you haven't seen it.