Kim Coates

DVD of the Week: Goon (no, really)

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Doug Glatt is not very smart and he knows it. He struggles to find the right word in every situation. Because his only talent is the ability to knock others unconscious, he is only in demand as a bar bouncer. But Doug is not a brute – he is goodhearted and loyal, and yearns to be part of something. By chance, Doug gets hired by a minor league hockey team to become its thuggish enforcer – despite his inability to ice skate.

We get lots of funny hockey violence a la the Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot. It’s very funny when Doug mangles his every attempt at cogent conversation. The comedy also comes from Doug’s innocent fish out of water in the cynical, sleazy and cutthroat world of minor league hockey. (He’s even reverential about the team logo on the locker room floor.)

There are lots of nice comic touches. For example, when Doug becomes a sensation, one of his fans in the stands holds up a sign reading “Doug 3:69” (Doug wears jersey number 69); we glimpse the sign for only a second, but I appreciate the filmmakers planting such nuggets in the movie. Doug is also that rarity – a Jewish hockey goon, with parents horrified that he isn’t following his brother to med school.

Although plenty raunchy, Goon is a rung above the normal gross-out guy comedy because Doug is such a fundamentally good and well-meaning person. As Doug, Seann William Scott (Stifler in American Pie) plays a naive simpleton, but one fiercely committed to his core values. It’s got to be hard to play that combination, and Scott’s performance is special.

The cast is excellent. Co-writer Jay Baruchel plays Doug’s sophomoric friend. Alison Pill (Milk, Midnight in Paris) is the troubled smart girl who can’t figure out why she’s attracted to a word-fumbling hockey goon. Liev Schreiber, excellent as always, dons a Fu Manchu and a mullet to play the league’s toughest goon. Kim Coates, who almost stole A Little Help as the personal injury attorney, plays the coach.

Goon has earned the #21 spot on Wikipedia’s “Films that most frequently use the word “f**k” with its 231 f-bombs.

Goon: violence, vulgarity and a nice Jewish boy

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Doug Glatt is not very smart and he knows it.  He struggles to find the right word in every situation.  Because his only talent is the ability to knock others unconscious, he is only in demand as a bar bouncer.  But Doug is not a brute – he is goodhearted and loyal, and yearns to be part of something.  By chance, Doug gets hired by a minor league hockey team to become its thuggish enforcer – despite his inability to ice skate.

We get lots of funny hockey violence a la the Hanson Brothers in Slap Shot.  It’s very funny when Doug mangles his every attempt at cogent conversation.  The comedy also comes from Doug’s innocent fish out of water in the cynical, sleazy and cutthroat world of minor league hockey.  (He’s even reverential about the team logo on the locker room floor.)

There are lots of nice comic touches.  For example, when Doug becomes a sensation, one of his fans in the stands holds up a sign reading “Doug 3:69” (Doug wears jersey number 69); we glimpse the sign for only a second, but I appreciate the filmmakers planting such nuggets in the movie.  Doug is also that rarity – a Jewish hockey goon, with parents horrified that he isn’t following his brother to med school.

Although plenty raunchy, Goon is a rung above the normal gross-out guy comedy because Doug is such a fundamentally good and well-meaning person.  As Doug, Seann William Scott (Stifler in American Pie) plays a naive simpleton, but one fiercely committed to his core values.  It’s got to be hard to play that combination, and Scott’s performance is special.

The cast is excellent.  Co-writer Jay Baruchel plays Doug’s sophomoric friend.  Alison Pill (Milk, Midnight in Paris) is the troubled smart girl who can’t figure out why she’s attracted to a word-fumbling hockey goon.  Liev Schreiber, excellent as always,  dons a Fu Manchu and a mullet to play the league’s toughest goon.  Kim Coates, who almost stole A Little Help as the personal injury attorney, plays the coach.

Perhaps because it has just been released, Goon hasn’t yet made Wikipedia’s “Films that most frequently use the word “f**k”, but I am sure that it meets the qualifying threshold of 150 f-bombs.

DVD of the Week: A Little Help

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A Little Help is a Jenna Fischer vehicle that illustrates the depth that Fischer can bring to even a shallow character.  In this dramedy, Fischer is suddenly widowed and must reassemble her life and support her quirky 12-year-old son despite the intrusions of her shrill, micro-controlling sister (Brooke Smith) and their chilly mother (Leslie Anne Warren).  Fischer’s biggest challenge is helping her son navigate social life at his new school, where he has told a preposterous lie on his first day.

Kim Coates steals every scene as a medical malpractice attorney.  Ron Liebman sparkles as the blowhard father.

Writer/Director Michael J. Weithorn made the very smart decision to hold Fischer’s character accountable for the bad choices she has made in her life.  If she were instead written as a completely innocent victim, the story would have lapsed into cliche.  Instead, it’s a pretty good movie and a fine showcase for Jenna Fischer.