Goon (film)

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Goon

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Michael Dowse
Produced by Don Carmody
David Gross
André Rouleau
Jay Baruchel
Ian Dimerman
Written by Jay Baruchel
Evan Goldberg
Starring Seann William Scott
Jay Baruchel
Alison Pill
Marc-André Grondin
Kim Coates
Eugene Levy
Liev Schreiber
Cinematography Bobby Shore
Editing by Reginald Harkema
Distributed by Alliance Films (Canada)
Magnet Releasing (US)
Release dates
  • September 10, 2011 (2011-09-10) (Toronto Film Festival)
  • February 24, 2012 (2012-02-24) (Canada)
Running time 92 minutes
Country Canada
Language English
Box office $6,985,158[1]

Goon is a 2011 Canadian sports comedy film directed by Michael Dowse,[2] written by Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg, and starring Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber. The main plot depicts an exceedingly nice but somewhat dimwitted man who becomes the enforcer for a minor league ice hockey team.

Goon 2 is currently in development. Director Michael Dowse has agreed to be involved in the project.[3]

Plot

Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott), a simple bouncer at a bar in Massachusetts, feels ostracized from his adoptive Jewish family, because his father, Dr. Glatt (Eugene Levy) and brother are both successful physicians. One day he attends a minor league hockey game with his best friend Pat (Jay Baruchel). Pat taunts the visiting team during a fight and one of their players climbs into the stands, calling him a homosexual slur. Doug, whose brother is gay, steps in and easily beats up the opposing player, which prompts the rest of the crowd to cheer him on. Soon after, Doug gets a phone call from the coach of his hometown team who offers him a job as an enforcer.

In the meantime, veteran enforcer and Doug's idol Ross "The Boss" Rhea (Liev Schreiber) is demoted to the minors after serving a 20 game suspension for slashing an opponent in the head from behind. Three years prior, Rhea hit and concussed the highly skilled prospect Xavier Laflamme (Marc-Andre Grondin) who has had trouble recovering from that incident due to the fear of being hit, resulting in his being stuck in the minors and falling in with a bad crowd. After earning himself the nickname "The Thug", Doug is called up to Canada and hired by Laflamme's team, the Halifax Highlanders, to protect Laflamme and be his roommate.

The Highlanders experience success with Doug as their primary enforcer, and he quickly gains popularity among fans and teammates much to the chagrin of his parents and Laflamme, particularly after losing ice time and the alternate-captaincy to Doug. Doug becomes romantically involved with Eva (Alison Pill), a "puck bunny" hockey fan with a penchant for players.

With 4 games left on their schedule, the Highlanders need two wins to secure a playoff spot. On a road game in Quebec, after an opposing player concusses Laflamme with a heavy hit, Doug savagely beats the player unconscious and is suspended for the next game against Rhea and the St. John's Shamrocks. Doug encounters Rhea at a diner, where Rhea dismisses Doug's claim that he is a hockey player, calling him a goon. Though Rhea acknowledges Doug's physical prowess and gives Doug his respect, Rhea warns him that if they ever meet on the ice, he will "lay [him] the fuck out." The Highlanders, with Doug suspended and Laflamme hospitalized, lose to the Shamrocks.

Doug reaches out to Laflamme, and promises him he will always have his back on the ice. In their next game, the Highlanders lead 1–0 thanks to renewed teamwork between Doug and Laflamme. In the dying seconds, Doug blocks a slapshot with his face and his ankle is injured in the ensuing scramble. The Highlanders win, but need a win against Rhea and the Shamrocks in their last game for a playoff spot.

After two periods, the Shamrocks are beating the Highlanders 2–0. Rhea and Doug drop the gloves in the third period, and dole out and receive physical punishment during the fight. Doug is knocked down first, but Rhea calls off the linesmen and allows him to get back up. Doug manages to break Rhea's nose, but breaks his previously injured ankle in the process. Doug manages to stand back up and knocks out Rhea with a vicious left hook. Eva and his teammates help a seriously injured Doug off the ice and Laflamme, inspired by Doug's efforts and Rhea's defeat, scores a natural hat-trick, giving the Highlanders to a 3–2 lead. Instead of showing the last minute and 21 seconds of the game, the final scene has Eva comforting Doug in the locker room as he comments, "I think I nailed him." in reference to Rhea.

Cast

Production notes

The film is an adaptation of the book Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey Into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith. Footage from Smith's career as a hockey enforcer is shown during the film's credits, and Smith said in an interview at Grantland.com that he is happy with the finished film.

Former NHL enforcer Georges Laraque has a small role as an enforcer for the Albany Patriots. His character fights both Glatt and Rhea over the course of the film. He draws with Glatt and the outcome of his fight with Rhea is not shown. When Laraque's character fights Glatt, the dialogue closely resembles the dialogue used by Georges Laraque in a fight against Raitis Ivanāns.[4]

Goon was filmed in Brandon, Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg, Manitoba.[5] Most of the hockey scenes were filmed at the Portage Credit Union Centre in Portage la Prairie, even though the Halifax Metro Centre was shown as the home of the Halifax Highlanders. Some scenes were also filmed at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and the Keystone Centre in Brandon.[6][7]

The stick-swinging incident for which Rhea was suspended during the film's story bears a strong resemblance to an incident in the NHL when Marty McSorley of the Boston Bruins slashed Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks in the head from behind. McSorley was suspended 23 games for the incident, which was extended to a full year after he was convicted of assault and sentenced to 18 months of probation. McSorley would never play another NHL game. Due to the slash and the fall on the ice, Brashear suffered a concussion, the same injury Laflamme suffered at the hands of Rhea in an unrelated incident.

Another infamous NHL incident alluded to in the film is the Boston Bruins climbing into the stands and fighting the fans at Madison Square Garden on December 23, 1979. This was provoked by a Rangers fan who slapped Stan Jonathan hard enough with a rolled-up program to draw blood, and subsequently stole Jonathan's stick. Mike Milbury infamously beat a fan with the fan's own shoe. Milbury was suspended for six games for his involvement in the altercation. His teammates Terry O'Reilly and Peter McNab were suspended for eight and six games respectively, while the fan was sentenced to six months in jail. All of them were also punished with a $500 fine.[8] It was also similar to an event where a fan jumped into the penalty box with Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The teams Doug Glatt plays for over the course of the film both reference the Philadelphia Flyers, an NHL team that became infamous for physically intimidating their opponents during the 1970s to go along with their high level of skill. Glatt's home team, the Orangetown Assassins, wear a uniform similar to the ones the Flyers wore during the 1980s, including the orange and black color scheme. The Halifax Highlanders employ a logo that is structured as the letter H with a circle signifying a puck on the right and wings on the left side of the letter; the Flyers logo has a similar design but with the letter P. The Highlanders team colors and name, however, are similar to those of the New York Islanders.

The scene in which Rhea becomes emotional during his suspension related press conference is a reference to current Detroit Red Wing and former Vancouver Canuck, Todd Bertuzzi. While playing for the Vancouver Canucks, Bertuzzi punched Steve Moore of the Colorado Avalanche in the back of the neck effectively ending his NHL career. Later during the press conference, Bertuzzi tearfully apologized for his actions that had him fined $500,000 and suspended for 17 months.[9]

Marketing

A red-band trailer for the film was released on IGN.[10]

In Toronto, and Montreal, prior to its premiere, posters for the film were removed from city bus shelters after several complaints from the public due to Baruchel making a "sexually suggestive gesture with his tongue and fingers."[11][12]

Critical reception

The film has received very positive reviews. Rotten Tomatoes has rated the film "Certified Fresh" with a score of 82% based on reviews from 103 critics.[13] Metacritic gives the film a score of 64 based on reviews from 21 critics.[14] Stephen Holden, writing for The New York Times gave a positive review that credits all the major performances.[15] Goon was nominated for 3 awards at the 2013 Canadian Screen Awards; Michael Dowse for Achievement In Direction, Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Jay Baruchel and Kim Coates, both for Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role.[16]

The timing of the film’s release was considered controversial by some as the previous summer featured the deaths of three NHL enforcers – Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and Wade Belak; all three of whom suffered from depression and head trauma (both of which were caused by their role as an enforcer) that are believed to be factors in their deaths.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "GOON". Box Office Mojo. 2012-04-05. Retrieved 2012-12-25. 
  2. ↑ Smith, Ian Hayden (2012). International Film Guide 2012. p. 83. ISBN 978-1908215017. 
  3. ↑ Volmers, Eric (13 November 2012). "Calgary director Michael Dowse lined up for Goon 2, no word yet on FUBAR 3". Calgary Herald. Retrieved 6 March 2013. 
  4. ↑ "George Laraque v Raitis Ivanans". 
  5. ↑ "IMDB Goon - Filming Locations". 
  6. ↑ "Rural communities are going all out to build state-of-the-art sports facilities". Winnipeg Free Press. Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 7 July 2012. 
  7. ↑ "Rural communities are going all out to build state-of-the-art sports facilities". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2012-03-23. 
  8. ↑ Seminara, Dave. "Over The Glass And Into Lore," The New York Times, Wednesday, December 23, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Goon (2011) - Trivia". IMDB. Retrieved 6 March 2013. 
  10. ↑ GOON Red Band Trailer
  11. ↑ Scallan, Niamh; Tapper, Josh (2012-02-22). "Goon movie poster stripped from city bus shelters". Toronto Star (Toronto). 
  12. ↑ "Contoversial ‘Goon’ movie poster allegedly removed from Montreal metro". News in Montreal. Retrieved 23 December 2012. 
  13. ↑ Goon at Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster
  14. ↑ http://metacritic.com/movie/goon-the-true-story-of-an-unlikely-journey-into-minor-league-hockey
  15. ↑ "A Brawler With a Soft Side ‘Goon,’ Directed by Michael Dowse", Stephen Holden, The New York Times, March 29, 2012
  16. ↑ "Nominees for the Canadian Screen Awards". 2013 Canadian Screen Awards. Retrieved 5 March 2013. 
  17. ↑ "Goon movie raises questions about hockey enforcers". CBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2013. 

External links

Films directed by Michael Dowse
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