GOON

I think I meant to review this trailer when I reviewed the trailer for Gone.  Gone is already over for me.  Goon, however... 

The thing about hockey is that it is so much more than violence and fighting.  It's actually a beautiful and flowing game played at a fast pace and it requires great skill, finesse, vision, instincts and a high level of physical ability and mental toughness.  But that's not what this movie is about.  Based on the trailer, this is one not so bright man's indoctrination into the not-so-subtleties of hockey... um fighting.  And by fluke...well, sort of.

I heard somewhere that this is the Tie Domi story.  Tie Domi played in the NHL for 15 years, mostly with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  He was considered a "goon" or enforcer, but was a pretty fast skater and made his presence felt on the ice.  He was also a fan favourite.  Off the ice, I know for a fact that he was involved in charitable work, especially working with children with disabilities.  The flip side is a story that was told to me.  My friend, Rob, was meeting a girl he was interested in at a bar.  At the bar was Tie Domi and Peter Ing.  Peter was a young goalie in the Maple Leafs organization and Peter also liked the girl.  Rob tells me that Peter and Tie saw Rob and the girl sitting at a table, joined them with two pitchers of beer and Tie "accidentally" spilled one of the pitchers on Rob.  True or not, I've known a few hockey players in my day and this didn't seem out of character. 

Goon is the story of the black sheep in a Jewish family who received more brawn than brain at birth and, by chance, becomes a minor league hockey player.  The trailer had a sort of a Slapshot feel.  Slapshot is THE fun goon hockey movie. Liev Schreiber, while I was surprised to see him in this one, is awesome in every role I've seen him in.  He actually looks the part of an ageing hockey tough guy - the handlebar moustache and mullet are perfect.  Sean William Scott plays this one innocently dim and, at least in the trailer he's pretty funny.  It was also funny to see another American Pie co-star, Eugene Levy, play the disappointed Jewish dad (I don't think Tie Domi is Jewish, I think he's Albanian).  Guilt combined with muscle is a sure fire recipe for lashing out at others. 

While the movie may not do the sport of Hockey justice, I might see this because I like Hockey and it looks like a harmless laugh.