Goon (2011).

Resume: This is probably the most sincere movie I've seen recently.

Director: Michael Dowse

Starring: Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, Liev Schreiber, Marc-Andre Grondin, Kim Coates.

Written by: Evan Goldberg, Jay Baruchel.

Produced by: Don Carmody, Ian Dimerman, David Gross, Jay Baruchel, etc.

The plot of the movie is quite simple. Doug Glatt is a bouncer in a local bar. He is dumb to do anything else, and what is more important who knows damn too well that he actually can't do anything else. His family is jewish, and his father is a surgeon as well as his younger brother. That makes him some sort of an outcast in his own family, who try to deal with the fact that their older son doesn't really fit the perfect family picture (nevermind that their younger son is gay). So, very early in the movie Doug goes to a hockey game with his friend, and after his friend has a word brawl with one of the hockey players Doug ends up beating that hockey player badly. And that's when one of the coaches notices him and recruits him as an enforcer in the team. So, for a stupid Doug is all starts out anew. He gets a weird double chance of simply fighting on ice and protecting other players, never really becoming a hockey player...

As I said the plot is very simple. I don't think more should be said about it. I'm hopeful that after reading this review you'll rent a movie and watch it. After I finished the movie the first thing (besides the movie of course) that surprised me was that Jay Baruchel was not only a sidekick to Doug, but also a writer, and a producer. And for that I take off my hat... Wasn't Jay one of those  young funny looking gays in "Rules of Attraction" who almost died among his hysterical friends? Wasn't he the one talking about blu-ray and hd-dvd fight between hollywood moguls in "Tropic Thunder"? Of course that was him. But I would never imagine that he could write and/or produce and act in one and the same movie at the same time. That stuff happens rarely and most of the time ends up bad. Not in this case. His was in the movie, but wisely as a sidekick no more, no less. So, basically he can and he can do it well. I sincerely wish him succes in all that conquest. I hope that he can truly bring to the big screen other projects that would be very good.

Although "Goon" had a very limited release (only 241 theatres) and I couldn't find the movie budget on the web, it's total boxoffice was 6.4 mln USD. Can the movie be a relative success, perhaps it did ok with DVD sales and rentals, and license sale to television? May well be. May well not be. Still it doesn't undermine the goods the movie has, and the fact that in my opinion this one is probably the best role Seann William Scott had. I wrote previously that of all the American Pie gang - Seann William Scott is probably the better actor. He's got the talent. He's got the looks. And he's got some charisma. And he acted more than anyone else (nevermind that they were B movies). Seann William Scott looked natural in the movie, he was truly sincere. That's why the movie went so well and didn't look manipulative.

A good scene was when his family came to see him play/fight for the team. His happiness was beyond any doubt, while his father and mother only thought how horrible the whole thing was. So, Doug had a small chance for a mini monologue for his family: I'm dumb and he's gay, deal with it - never sounded better. Another nice scene was when he asked Eva for a kiss. And when the whole team: tired, drunken, drugged, without any goal in their minds start to believe, well that was all ok with me. Of course that was more a dramatization, but didn't it look natural?

Character build up for Doug was smooth and believable. When he says that he'll take one for the team, he'll do what it takes, and he'll fight for the team you do believe him. So, when he's left alone at the gates and takes a puck in his face, it too looked ok. I'm dumb and I'll do everything what it takes for the team. Did you see Goon? What were your feelings when Doug put his face on front of the puck? What's that? Dumb idiot? Dumbass? Couldn't you raise your hands, turn away, or do something else? Well that's exactly what he is, he is dumb.

Didn't you think that it was to artificial between Eva and Doug? No, it didn't seem like that at all. She fell in love with his sincerety, and masculinity. So, it really doesn't matter how smart you are. He's a goon, he's strong, and sincere. Don't you just love that?

So, why did I like that movie personally? Sincerety and truth. Don't you meet guys like Doug once or twice in your life? Aren't you shocked how simple-minded these guys are? Don't they leave you light-hearted and sympathetic. "You silly fool, how can you survive in that cruel world?" - isn't that the idea that crosses your mind whenever you say goodbye to them? And that's the truth, you know guys like him, you've met them, the problem is, they don't stay for long with you. Seann William Scott's Doug is a rare man, whose sincerety you need from time to time, to remind you that you're not a wolf to any other human in your world. He's there to remind you that sometimes you need to take one for your team, friends, family, wife, child, girlfriend, or baby brother wholeheartedly. You don't have to calculate the goods whenever you have a chance to help someone.

To make a much better comment on Doug's character: he's not that dumb. He sees that other team players don't really respect him, and poke fun at him, he sees that Xavier Laflamme is a drug addict, he sees that coach really has only one purpose for him, he understands his position in the team well to much. But for him being in a team is already an achievement he could never dream of. Yet, he'll waste himself for the team. It was nice to see when Laflamme finally takes him as a partner, and Doug is fully grateful for that.

Other characters were good too. I don't mean to describe all of them - but they all looked very organic in the movie. Watch that movie from time to time to remind you of simple kindness at least. I bet you'll enjoy it more at home than at a movie theatre. As I said in the beginning - it's one of the most sincere movies I watched recently.