BY ROBIN D FOX
Director Micheal Dowse and Writers Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg have combined forces and actually created a Rocky/Major League hybrid for The Hangover generation. And it’s based on a true story.
This movie kicks ass… literally. The only thing more organic than the movie’s humor, is the violence. This is like The Fighter -level violence: shocking, bloody, realistic, surprising, and ultimately complementary. The level of raw brutality combined with the gritty/drab camera work/production design and the witty-ass script throw your expectations off their axis to create something whole-heartedly fresh smelling… and what may be the best hockey movie since Slap Shot (sorry Miracle. Sorry D2. It’s a sad but true fact).
Sean William Scott is amazing (a sentence I’d never thought I’d utter. I mean, I liked him a lot in The Rundown, but that one resides in my guilty pleasure pile between Crank 2 and Smoking Aces. Not this one. This can go on the big boy shelf, next to all the “real” movies).
S.W.S. (as I will now eternally refer to him) creates a character who’s as dense as a Power Bar, tough as a leather wall, and as endearing as Richard Jenkins in any movie made between 2007-08. I mean seriously, this one note character speaks volumes (he plays out like a weird mash up of Bud White and The Dude, but tougher and stupider than the two of them combined).
The supporting cast is superb. There are absolutely no weak links here; total rock ‘n roll synergy. Jay Baruchel (co-writer of this sleeper gem) plays the best friend like a comedic champ. He gets some of the best lines and hams it up without ever going over the fence.
Alison Pill is one of the most real female love interests I’ve ever seen in a movie like this: she’s not smoking hot, she’s kind of a major bitch, but she creates a girl that we really want our hero to wind up with.
Liev Schreiber rocks the opposition, playing a truly terrifying and respectable villain (well sort of villain, sort of mentor).
And Marc-Andre Grondin (who was absolutely brilliant as the main character in the underseen, masterful, coming of age, coming out Canadian export, C.R.A.Z.Y.) chews up his damsel-in-distress-esque, shell-shocked, ex-hockey-hot-shot turned burn out character, Xavier LaFlamme, the man our hero is hired to protect.
Rounding out the cast are Kim Coates (Sons of Anarchy) and Eugene Levy, who each turn in proper supporting performances.
What amazes most about this movie is the fact that it’s so by the book and such a retread of that classic Hollywood-favorite story (I believe it’s number 3 of the five stories Hollywood screenwriters are allowed to write): the “Underdog Tale”. But it completely rises above its trite/recycled premise and delivers something real and raw; piece that comes from an obvious hunger from all involved to make something great.
Now, despite the violence and crude nature of this movie, I feel completely comfortable recommending it to any and all. It’s just that good.
Based on the book by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith.
PS: The sequel is coming…
Cinematic Ruminations 