I had to kill a few hours before tonight’s Leafs season finale against the hated Montreal Canadiens, so I spent $6.99 and ordered Goon, the first OnDemand movie I’ve purchased since I saw the 8 documentary.
I. Loved. It.
This is a movie based on the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Doug Smith, an enforcer that played for the ECHL’s Carolina Thunderbirds and a handful of minor league teams before becoming a fight coach for the Boston Bruins, a police officer and a hockey linesman. While the real story happened over twenty years ago, it was adapted to today’s time frame and I couldn’t stop laughing during some parts.
The best thing I heard about Goon was on the Rotten Tomatoes web site from Film.com’s William Goss -- It's an underdog story that doesn't take itself too seriously, tender as a bruise and about as blue.
Yep, that’s about as accurate of a description of this movie as you’ll find. Here’s the trailer:
My favorite part of the movie? Doug Glatt, the character based on Smith, and his friend Pat attend a local hockey game. During the game a brawl breaks out and Pat taunts the visiting team’s enforcer. The enforcer climbs the glass and comes after Pat, yelling a certain anti-gay insult I won’t repeat here. Doug tells the enforcer, “my brother is gay” and then beats the sh*t out of the hockey player to the applause of the crowd.
Doug Glatt is adorably stupid in this movie and Liev Schreiber was an excellent choice to play Ross “The Boss” Shea, the St. John’s Shamrocks enforcer that is also Glatt’s favorite hockey player. I won’t say it’s the best hockey movie ever made but it’s definitely the best one since Slap Shot and likely a lot better than a certain overhyped move that also stars Seann William Scott and Eugene Levy.
Goon should appeal to a larger audience than hockey fans and with its limited release in theatres it’s worth checking out on OnDemand.
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