Goon

Ice hockey flicks usually export as unsuccessfully as baseball analogies, armoured rugby and the thought of having to pay for your healthcare. But Goon, inspired by the true story of Doug Smith, a minor-league hockey enforcer (the team's resident brawler) who achieved notoriety for his fisticuffs, is a blisteringly askew tale of how you don't have to be good at a sport to succeed, just know your role.

Seann William Scott plays Doug, a gentle giant bouncer who, while watching a game, gets into a face-pounding ruckus with a player that brings him to the attention of the local coach. Spirited away in sports movie fashion to a (slightly) grander team and entering into a simmering rivalry with the league's current head honcho goon, Ross “the Boss” Rhea (Liev Schreiber), anticipation pot-boils towards an ultimate throwdown and a chance for Doug's team of underachievers to turn their misfortunes around.

It may sound like you have heard it all before, but you’ve never heard it like this; this hockey rink echos with a cacophony of bones breaking, blood splattering and teeth hitting the ice. Yes, it also echoes Slap Shot (how could it not?), but Scott's naivety/power-fist blend is a believable mix, with a script by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg that’s deservedly crass locker-room crude. Goon is both brutal and painfully funny, and delivers a comedy ensemble that would gut the Mighty Ducks. [Thom Atkinson]