Goon
201292 minutes
rated R
by Scott Mendelson
On the surface, Goon is an assembly-line underdog sports movie. And yes the film hits a handful of familiar story beats along the way. But there is a subtle intelligence to the picture, with characters that are far less broad than you'd expect and a screenplay that feels authentic. I don't know hockey well enough to judge its accuracy, but I can say that the film feels like it intimately understands the sport as well as the people who play it. Hockey is not a sport that has inspired very many movies, so when I say that Goon is one of the best films about the sport I've ever seen that may seem like a backhanded compliment. But it is easily the best hockey movie since Miracle, for whatever that's worth.
