Goon

It may be more Superbad than Invincible, but Goon still sticks pretty close to the familiar feel-good sports-movie formula. That said, it wisely gives the blueprint an aggressively unsentimental twist, as Baruchel and Goldberg’s script reworks the usual clichés into opportunities to showcase their irreverent brand of humor.

The friendly but epically dimwitted Doug is your typical underdog. There’s an obligatory training montage, locker room pep talks, and everything builds toward “the big game” -- only in this case, it’s actually the “big fight” between Doug and Rhea, and the credits roll before the final buzzer sounds in the playoff-determining climatic game. In any other sports movie, that’d be a cardinal sin, but not here.

That’s because Goon is far from your typical sports movie, owing more to subversive satires, like Slap Shot and Bull Durham, that poke holes in the genre mythos, and where last-minute heroics mean stopping a game-tying goal with your face. (It’s been a while, but I don’t remember seeing anything like that in Miracle.) With Goon, director Michael Dowse, best known for his cult hit Fubar, delivers a sports movie for guys who are tired of the Disneyfication of the genre. And while it may not be brilliant, Goon is far from dumb.

Thanks to its hard-R humor and ball-busting locker room dynamics, you don’t have to be a hockey fan (or Canadian, for that matter) to enjoy Goon. And while all the violence and vulgarity might not sit especially well with critics or the squeamish, it’s tailor-made for guys.

The bloodshed here is intentionally over the top, played for its physical comedy, not shock value or finger-wagging. Goon finds a certain kind of honor in the puck pugilism, and when Doug and Rhea finally face off, it’s with the mutual respect of fellow warriors. And while “The Thug” may be an enforcer, he’s no bully -- he’s simply a good-natured guy with a special skill set, “touched by the Fist of God,” as his coach puts it. In fact, Doug proves so adept at removing teeth, he could’ve become a dentist (and maybe satisfied his disapproving doctor dad).

Credit Seann William Scott for not going overboard with the punch-drunk act -- though at times he comes perilously close -- and the on-ice action is thrillingly filmed by Dowse. But Goon is a comedy first and foremost, and with its Superbad pedigree and lovably dumb hero, it’s an easy movie to root for and a soon-to-be staple for beer leaguers everywhere.