Goon
Director: Michael Dowse
Year Released: 2011
Rating: 1.5
A bouncer (Seann William Scott) gets recruited by an amateur hockey team in need of a good fighter - despite having no skating or stick handling abilities - and ends up as the mentor/protector of a punk (Marc-André Grondin) with tons of skills but an on-ice confidence problem (and an off-ice addiction to cocaine and girls). The comedic bits mostly fail (Jay Baruchel's foul-mouthed buddy character is flat-out obnoxious) and it doesn't really get around to addressing the role of the enforcer until it drags out the Liev Schreiber figure, whose role adds a small amount of texture to the otherwise superficial. It's worth noting that real-life enforcers in the NHL often lead tragic lives (and meet tragic ends), but really digging into the actual truth of someone paid-to-fight (instead of skate-and-score) isn't the movie's goal.
