In a comedy atmosphere, this movie, follows the struggles of Doug Glatt, an ambitious bouncer, who joins a minor hockey team, who struggles against learning skating to achieve success and glory.
The movie's unlikely sincerity can't completely offset its ugliness for less bloodthirsty viewers, but it helps, and it does smooth over some narrative rough edges.
It's the kind of small-budget comedy that earns your goodwill early and easily, even if it isn't breaking new ground or transcending its readily apparent monetary constraints.
George Roy Hill's classic Slap Shot may still hold the title as the quintessential hockey comedy, but Goon certainly deserves to be mentioned in its company, juggling charm and grit and raunch and bloody teeth with assuredness and aplomb.
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.
