Goon (2011)

Release date: 2012-02-24
Country: USA|Canada
Language: English|French
Director: Michael Dowse
Production Co: No Trace Camping, Caramel Film, Don Carmody Productions
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: 6.8/10
Length: 1h 32min

Storyline

Doug Glatt of Orange, Massachusetts is floundering in life, he having no real sense of where he fits - having a "thing" as he calls it. He doesn't have the book smarts to become a doctor like his adoptive father or his gay adoptive brother Ira. And he doesn't have the passion that his best friend Pat has for his self-appointed work, hosting a hockey based cable call-in show, Hot Ice. Because his fists and skull are figuratively like steel, Doug is good at the enforcement part of his job as a bouncer despite he having a naturally friendly childlike approach to dealing with people and situations. An incident involving Doug in the stands of an Orangetown Assassins minor league hockey game leads to its coach, Rollie Hortense, offering Doug a tryout with the team as its enforcer, the tryout regardless of the fact that Rollie has no idea if Doug even knows how to play ice hockey (which he doesn't). Learning just enough hockey skills, Doug makes the team. Rollie, however, quickly believes ...

Plot Keywords

hockey, female nudity, hockey stick, reference to ebay, urination, casual sex, interrupted sex, french canadian, smoking, locker room, bare chested male, jealous boyfriend, one night stand, ethnic slur, concussion, text messaging, gay slur, homophobia, gay brother, gay son

Short Review

As the brutality ramps up, and the story gains real consequence, for some reason, we actually laugh harder. Goon is a comedy, often a very funny one, but you might be hesitant to call it that once you've actually seen it.