Review: Goon

We picked Goon because we are in Canada, and it is a Canadian hockey comedy co-written by Jay Baruchel.  Do you require further explanation?

Loosely based on a true story, very loosely, it tells the story of a Jewish bouncer from New England named Doug Glatt who gets discovered by a minor league hockey coach when Doug beats the crap out of one of his toughest players.  Doug can't skate, sure, but boy can he beat the snot out of guys.

Doug is brought on to protect the star player, Xavier Laflamme, who has never been the same since the crushing knockout he received from the league's predominant goon, Ross Rhea.  The idea is that Doug will beat senselessly the face of anyone who threatens Xavier, who'll once again feel comfortable, and thusly regain his confidence and resume his offensive prowess.

Doug may be the nicest goon ever, even if a little dense, and it's easier than you'd think to get on the side of a guy whose career involves bloodying other guy's faces.  Of course, he has a love interest, whose name I can't recall but I do recall that he found her very pretty.  She was played by Alison Pill, who we'd just seen playing Zelda Fitzgerald in Midnight In Paris.  She has a problem, though, in that she already has a boyfriend, but that can be worked out through a face pounding or two.

And boy, is there blood.  And broken bones, and other body parts.  And more blood.  If you're squeamish about such things, you might want to blink for long periods of time here and there.

There are many laugh-out-loud moments, and Seann William Scott pulls off Doug's aloofness perfectly.  You really feel behind him the whole way, especially since things don't work out so well for the guys in front of him.  Liev Schreiber, of all people, plays the haggard goon Ross Rhea, and I'll admit that I didn't at first recognize him.  He melts into the role.

We enjoyed this movie quite a bit, and you can't imagine the joy of watching it with a bunch of blood-thirsty Canadians.  I don't know if it will make it to a theater near you, but you can surely catch it on Netflix next year sometime.  My imdb rating: 7/10.

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Maureen: This movie was my number one choice for the festival. This may be an odd selection, but it just seemed like the right movie for the Festival: fun, unexpected, and quirky.  It was all this, and introduced as "the most Canadian film at TIFF". 

It is a bit violent at times and I am not into brutality at all.  But oddly most of the fighting had a real, yet over the top feel.  The sound used for the hitting was extreme and so it became comical.  I think the strongest point for the movie is the script.  There is a great reference to ET (the extraterrestrial), that is so funny, I want to see the movie again for this one part.