Goon (2011)

Starring: Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill

Director: Michael Dowse

Genre: Comedy

Rating: C+

So, in celebration of the NHL Lockout coming to an end and hockey being back, I've decided to review the hockey film Goon.  Inspired by the biography Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio and Doug Smith, Goon follows Jewish dimwit Doug Glatt (Scott) in his rather accidental journey into minor league hockey.  Doug is the son of a stereotypical Jewish doctor who's long felt a bit ostracized in his family owing to the fact that he's not nearly as smart as his father (Eugene Levy) or brother (David Paetkau) - his brother, Ira, is also a doctor, and a gay one at that.  One day, Doug goes to a minor league hockey game with his friend, Pat (Baruchel), where he gets into a fight with one of the players who uses the word "fag."  This fight inspires the coach of Doug's home team to recruit him as an enforcer.  From there, Doug is called up to Canada to play for the Halifax Highlanders.  The Highlanders have a problem with their best player, Xavier Lalfamme (Marc-André Grondin); three years prior he was concussed by Ross "The Boss" Rhea (Schreiber).  Laflamme is now scared of being hit again, and is struggling, while Rhea has been demoted to the Minors again and is looking to go out with a bang. Oh! And there's a girl, Eva (Pill), who is a real puck bunny, who's charmed by Doug even though she has a boyfriend.

Um... okay, so this movie is kind of filled with stereotypes and archetypical characters.  No one seems to be really all that well developed and things tend to fall on the basic path of "good," "bad" or "good but in need of redemption" that one typically expects in a movie like this.  It's a fun movie, but there's no real depth to it, which is in itself a bit disappointing.  I also kind of found that there was no real suspense to it.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out the direction that the film is going in, or what the end result will be.  It's not hard to figure out.

That said, it is fun. In a way, it kind of reminds me of the old Slap Shot movies, just with a new cast.  It's pretty much everything you expect from a movie about hockey starring Seann William Scott.  I donno, I'm not sure what more to say.  It wasn't great, but it was good.

Knocked Up (2007)

Starring: Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Charlyne Yi, Jason Segel, Martin Starr

Director: Judd Apatow

Genre: Comedy

Rating: B-

After getting a promotion at work, career-minded Alison Scott (Heigl) has a one-night stand with stoner Ben Scott (Rogen). Alison very quickly begins to regret it, but when she finds out she's pregnant all hilarity ensues.  Alison and Ben must figure out if they want to make it work, and if they can make it work, and really how to do so.  Along for the ride are Ben's stoner friends and Alison's sister and brother-in-law.  By far the best part of the film is actually Alison's sister and brother-in-law, Debbie (Mann) and Pete (Rudd), and their children, played by Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann's real life children, Maud and Iris Apatow.  There's a reason that the sequel, This is 40, focused on Debbie and Pete and not on Ben and Alison.

Um, okay.  So, I liked the basic idea, but I disliked how it ended up basically being a stoner take on the romantic comedy.  I would have rather it gone a less typical route - yes the pregnancy bit is less typical, but the whole guy meets girl, things are awkward, guy and girl hook up, and they all live happily ever after (after that one massive fight where they almost break up) is a bit cliched at this point.

I did really like the dynamic of Debbie and Pete and what they offered to the table.  I believe I said it in my review of This is 40, but I really like how the kids feel like real people here, like real kids.  I attribute this to the fact that they're actually Apatow's kids, but hey it works.  I think if you're going to write children in your movie (or book or TV show or whatever) then you need to have children in your life - a lot - otherwise it just seems fake.

Katherine Heigl criticized this film saying that it's sexist, saying that it "paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving guys."  I both agree and disagree with her here. While the women are shrewish at times and the men are goofy fun-loving guys, I kind of think that Knocked Up tries to show that both are essentially good.  Yes, Alison is a bit uptight, but she's the responsible one, the one who you should admire.  Ben is a freeloading stoner - as are all of his friends.  Debbie and Pete are both a lot more likeable, and both a lot more relatable.  The guys say at one point how great the women are and how they aren't deserving of them because they don't put enough into the relationship - and this is something that we see throughout the film.  I do kind of think Heigl's character is a bit humourless, but I also think that's a lot to do with the fact that she doesn't relate to Rogen's style of humour - which I can totally get.  Debbie, however, has a much better dynamic with Pete - something played out further in This is 40.  Oh, also, as far as Heigl is concerned, it's kind of bad form to badmouth a movie you're in.   Just going to toss that out there.  Also, one final note: I'm not really sure how to tag Knocked Up and This is 40 to show that they're related.  It's part of a series, but not part of a series? If anyone has any ideas, let me know!