When I first heard about Michael Dowse's Goon, I had very little interest. I was of the mind that every comedic thing that needed to be said about hockey had already been said by Slap Shot, and to some extent, that's true. Goon doesn't blaze any new trail for the sports comedy, but it does create an emotional bond with the audience that feels authentic, in spite of the cartoonish characters.
Doug "The Thug" Glatt (Seann William Scott) is a bouncer who has been drifting thorugh life aimlessly until a chance encounter with a semi-pro hockey player in the stands at a local game changes his luck. He is recruited to be an enforcer on the local team, and soon moves up to an NHL farm team on the strength of his ability to both take and dish out punishment. Off the ice, Doug is anything but a thug, he's a kind and gentle soul whose only thoughts are for others. He reminded me very much of Glee's Brittany S Pierce, simple, but undeniably loveable and the one you'll always cheer for. When a veteran goon from an opposing team, Liev Schreiber, tries to break Doug down, it's time to make a decision, will he fight, or give up?
Goon is far from perfect. Jay Baruchel's character is obnoxious and crass in a way that I'm sure was very intentional, but felt a bit forced to me. However, he is a necessary part of the narrative, and I can respect that. This film is Scott's show, he carries the film on his shoulders. Who would've thought that one of the stars of Dude, Where's My Car? (a film I kinda like, though it is admittedly pretty awful), had this performance in him?
We've already taken on the film in a couple of reviews, and rather than babble my way through trying to explain why I like it, I'll clip a few words from my colleagues:
The Disc:
Magnolia's Blu-ray edition of Goon is very impressive. The A/V is excellent quality. The film was shot on RED, and as such there is very little that can mess up the image quality, and thankfully, Magnolia avoids any such sin. The audio is also quite bombastic, putting you right in the middle of some tight hockey action when necessary. Great stuff.
Goon goes all out in the bonus material, though, with a huge amount of extra content that rivals any of Magnolia's releases except perhaps Hobo With a Shotgun. We get a commentary with Dowse and Baruchel that is very entertaining and doused with salty language, we get some audition footage, a half hour interview with Scott and Baruchel (who is also the co-writer), behind the scenes footage, fight training footage, and blooper reels. Most of this footage can be watched either on its own or as part of a Power Play Mode in which the film offers up opportunities to stop at certain scenes to see how they were made. Hobo had this feature as well, and while I can see something neat about it, I'd rather just watch all of the bonus material on its own.
Goon is a lot of fun and I laughed out loud in the privacy of my den several times. Underneath the crass and bloody humor, there's some great heart, though, and that's what gets my recommendation.
Doug "The Thug" Glatt (Seann William Scott) is a bouncer who has been drifting thorugh life aimlessly until a chance encounter with a semi-pro hockey player in the stands at a local game changes his luck. He is recruited to be an enforcer on the local team, and soon moves up to an NHL farm team on the strength of his ability to both take and dish out punishment. Off the ice, Doug is anything but a thug, he's a kind and gentle soul whose only thoughts are for others. He reminded me very much of Glee's Brittany S Pierce, simple, but undeniably loveable and the one you'll always cheer for. When a veteran goon from an opposing team, Liev Schreiber, tries to break Doug down, it's time to make a decision, will he fight, or give up?
Goon is far from perfect. Jay Baruchel's character is obnoxious and crass in a way that I'm sure was very intentional, but felt a bit forced to me. However, he is a necessary part of the narrative, and I can respect that. This film is Scott's show, he carries the film on his shoulders. Who would've thought that one of the stars of Dude, Where's My Car? (a film I kinda like, though it is admittedly pretty awful), had this performance in him?
We've already taken on the film in a couple of reviews, and rather than babble my way through trying to explain why I like it, I'll clip a few words from my colleagues:
Goon is easily the best hockey comedy since 1977's Slap Shot, and that's a solid claim on its own, but Goon is also a whole lot better than just another scrappy sports farce. For all its surface-level vulgarity and gleeful violence, Goon is actually quite a sweet, insightful, and powerfully effective little movie. It's not JUST for hockey fans, but, boy, are they gonna love this movie.
-Scott Weinberg
And in his editorial piece, Oy Canada: GOON And The Apotheosis Of Jewish Wish Fulfillment, Jason Gorber said the following:
What's clear is this: GOON is not only by far the best hockey movie since SLAPSHOT, it is also the "Jewiest". It's neurotic, clever, deprecating, and at its heart a sweet story of dumb love and a dumb game. It indirectly highlights just how much of a bad ass Schreiber can be on screen, and lets us live vicariously through Doug's rise as one of our own.
I'm sure the film will work for other audiences, but for those of us in the unique situation of being Canadian Jews, always detached as we make our associations with others, it's nice to finally have two big guys to root for on screen. GOON, then, isn't just a hockey movie, it's quite simply the apotheosis of Canadian Jewish wish fulfillment.
-Jason Gorber
It's hard not to compare this to Slap Shot, which is the only legitimate hockey classic we have, but I think the comparison is fair. More than anything, I was struck by the unabashed sincerity of Doug's character. It could easily have been played wrong, but with a straight face, Scott delivers a great performance and one which will have you cheering for him, fan or not.The Disc:
Magnolia's Blu-ray edition of Goon is very impressive. The A/V is excellent quality. The film was shot on RED, and as such there is very little that can mess up the image quality, and thankfully, Magnolia avoids any such sin. The audio is also quite bombastic, putting you right in the middle of some tight hockey action when necessary. Great stuff.
Goon goes all out in the bonus material, though, with a huge amount of extra content that rivals any of Magnolia's releases except perhaps Hobo With a Shotgun. We get a commentary with Dowse and Baruchel that is very entertaining and doused with salty language, we get some audition footage, a half hour interview with Scott and Baruchel (who is also the co-writer), behind the scenes footage, fight training footage, and blooper reels. Most of this footage can be watched either on its own or as part of a Power Play Mode in which the film offers up opportunities to stop at certain scenes to see how they were made. Hobo had this feature as well, and while I can see something neat about it, I'd rather just watch all of the bonus material on its own.
Goon is a lot of fun and I laughed out loud in the privacy of my den several times. Underneath the crass and bloody humor, there's some great heart, though, and that's what gets my recommendation.