Sean William Scott has had a career filled with ups and
downs. It seems for every movie he's made in the past that seemed to launch him
into the attention of the press he'd make another movie that would give them
pause and cause them to ignore him. The sad thing is that in the good movies
and the bad I've always felt that he added more than he took away from those
films. COP OUT, one of my least favorite films, is an example of that. So with
the release of GOON it looks like it's time for the press to hail him once
again and deservedly so.
Scott plays Doug Glatt, a nobody bouncer at a local bar who
likes hockey but not as much perhaps as his best friend Ryan (Jay Baruchel who
co-wrote the screenplay). Ryan has his own cable program and podcast where he
trash talks with the best of them, more often than not in the most lewd
language possible. At a game one night after Ryan insults a player, the player
hops out of the penalty box to attack Ryan calling him a fag. Not a smart thing
to do since Doug's brother is gay and he takes offense to it, smashing the
player and knocking him out, attracting the attention of the team manager.
Doug is approached by the manager to come play for the team.
With no hockey skills and almost unable to stand on skates, Doug is insulted by
the team captain. Of course this results in Doug taking out half of his own
team but earning their respect at the same time. Doug becomes the team's
"goon", the muscle or bad guy whose job it is to inflict as much physical
damage on the other team as possible. He's good at it, enough so that he gets
plenty of press and is given the chance to play for the team manager's brother
in a league that's a step up.
In this league Doug has a new job. He's not just a goon but
he's also there to help with the team's star player Xavier Laflamme (Marc-Andre
Gondrin). Laflamme was knocked into a coma by the league's main goon Ross Rhea
(Liev Schreiber) who was suspended afterwards. Now he's lost his mojo and
skates more out of fear than skill when on the ice. The team's manager is
hoping that with Doug at his side, Laflamme can come out of his fear and take
the team to the championship.
Laflamme has taken that road to superstardom that spirals
down fast. Fast women, drugs and more are his interest now and he shows no
respect for the game, his team and for especially Doug. It's up to Doug to
change all that. And before the final reel rolls, the inevitable match up
between Doug and Rhea is bound to happen.
The character of Doug Glatt is well thought out and played
by Scott. This is a man who isn't the brightest person on this planet and who
knows that all too well. His family, all in the medical profession, sees his
job as demeaning while Doug realizes that he doesn't have the smarts to go into
their field but that he excels at this one. Early on he talks to Ryan about not
having a thing in his life that sets him apart from everyone else. Being on
this team is the first time he feels he has accomplished anything. Where some
actors could have overdone this simplistic seeming character, Scott brings him
to life in a way few would be capable of.
A side story involves Doug's romantic life when he becomes
involved with a young woman named Eva (Allison Pill). A hockey groupie who has
a boyfriend already, Eva finds that her attraction to Doug might be more than
she bargained for. Here is another character that Doug, the loser at the
beginning of the film, has an effect on.
Being centered in the world of hockey there is plenty of
bloodshed seen on screen here as well as enough hardcore language to make a
sailor blush. But that's the world that we're being made a part of while
watching this film so know it going in. It's the same world we visited once
before in the Paul Newman film SLAPSHOT.
The world of movies has given us a number of characters that
were the underdogs that we found ourselves rooting for. Here we have another
one. Doug Glatt, aka Doug the Thug, is a character who knows his limitations
and who attempts to rise above and make something of himself. He is the perennial nice guy placed in a
world where he must hurt people, all the while telling them he's sorry. And
he's someone that I think most anyone would love to consider someone they'd want
to spend time with. As for now it's worth spending 92 minutes with him by
watching this DVD.
Click here to order.
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