Sports comedies are probably one of the most enjoyable genres Hollywood has to offer. There's just something funny about seeing overpaid athletes look like idiots on screen, even if they do win "the big game." The year 1977 not only brought us "Star Wars," but a little hockey movie called "Slap Shot." It was probably a lot funnier back then.
Minor league hockey is yet another struggling aspect in the town of Charlestown. Their Chiefs are awful, headed by a player/coach Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman). After hearing a rumor that the team could be sold to some new owners in Florida, Reggie decides to up the violence factor to draw the big crowds. This new attitude quickly sends the Chiefs on a massive winning streak as they begin their quest to take home the title, but the cost may be too much.
There is one reason, and one reason only, that "Slap Shot" is a classic. Numbers 16, 17, and 18: The Hanson Brothers. Without these guys (all actual hockey players), this movie would have nothing going for it. There is an agonizing pace here, causing the movie to run just over two hours. Many moments could have been trimmed, cut, and left on the floor to speed things up.
Most of comedy is meant for shock value, but nearly 30 years later, it's not very offensive. Since it relies so heavily on four-letter words, this isn't even remotely funny unless it's entirely uncut (don't even try to watch it on standard cable). That's a pure sign that this movie has very little to offer.
But then the Hansons hit the ice and things pick up. They get most of the enjoyable lines and take part in a fight that seems awfully familiar to a recent NBA incident. Nearly every moment these three players are on screen is pure comedy joy. It's really a shame you can't say that for anyone else.
Paul Newman takes the lead, but just seems lost with a confusing script. So the team is moving to Florida or not? His multiple romances just drag this one down another notch and they never really amount to anything. The entire second half becomes almost entirely character driven, losing focus on what the movie is trying to be - a comedy.
Finally, the film ends with one of the most awful, ill-conceived, incoherent, and ridiculous endings in the history of modern movies. It leaves such a bad taste in your mouth, that even if the movie were great up until that point (it's not), you would still leave utterly disappointed. Minor credit is due for not taking the cheap way out with the usual last second goal, but this is just flat out stupid. (** out of *****)
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Article comments
1 - Bruce Kratofil
umm, if I'm not mistaken, Paul Newman invented the Florida rumor, as part of the effort to drum up interest in the team.
That clears up one of the plot points.
2 - Matt Paprocki
See, that's how it comes out too. BUT, at the end, he goes to the "mysterious" owner, she says she won't do it, but it seems completely logical that the rumor was true. That's how the conversation plays out. Then, during the final game, they have people in the stands who are looking to buy the team. It doesn't make a lick of sense.
3 - Jim Carruthers
Like, you never considered that a minor league hockey team in a dying rust-belt town might be a metaphor, eh? For that, go to the penalty box and feel the shame for three minutes.
If you're looking for double bill with "Slap Shot", watch "Perfectly Normal" which features Kenneth Welsh as an intramural coach who lies to his players to beat their rivals. And Robbie Coltrane as an opera loving con-man.
4 - Matt Paprocki
Ok, so you want me to dig deep into a movie about three hockey playing nerds that fight? Seriously, this isn't the type of movie you look for metaphors in. Did Happy Gilmore have something I missed? Major League?
5 - Mike Kole
Nah, this is a fun movie without any pretense of depth.
I will say that it is probably a heck of a lot more fun to me as a hockey player and fan than for the average viewer, especially as a fan of minor league hockey. If you've ever been to minor league rinks like the old Hersheypark Arena, Fort Wayne War Memorial, and the like, you will have seen games with the ridiculous fights and the players can be loony characters in person.
I'll never forget a huge brawl in Fort Wayne playing against Cleveland. At the end of the fight, there were sticks and gloves all over the ice. There was also a cup that somehow came out of someone's jock strap! I was sitting in the press box when someone pointed it out. I had a camera with a telephoto lens, so I racked it out and got the shot.
It may as well have been Slapshot!
6 - Jim Carruthers
Actually "Happy Gilmore" was about the search for the Buddhist ideal of nirvana via playing golf from hockey.
And doing the right thing for your granny.
7 - Eric Olsen
I thought it was the eternal search for the nexus between fury and bliss
8 - Jim Carruthers
I'm sure when the definitive filmography of Adam Sandler is written, it will be called "Between Fury and Bliss". And it will include Eric's review of Sandler's Oscar winning remake of "Citizen Kane" in 2009. Or the filmed version of his hit one man Broadway show, "12 Angry Men".
9 - Eric Olsen
very perspicacious thoughts Jim
10 - Mark Saleski
the thought of "Rosebud..." being whispered from sandler's mouth is just, well...something.
11 - Did You Watch It?
A couple of things...First, it's clear that for most of the movie Newman is making up the rumors and trying to figure out who the owner is. When he finally does he goes to see her, looking for her husband. Second, the guys at the end are hockey scouts, not men looking to buy the team, that's made clear through simple dialogue and provides the reason why the team gives up on "old school hockey" and resorts back to fighting. Third, this is not "Happy Gilmore", "Slap Shot" was directed by George Roy Hill ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting"). This is clearly a movie about people struggling with a sad existence where even the one true thing they have (hockey), can be corrupted. While we have fun along the way, Newman's character is the one to be watched, while the Hanson brothers are comic relief. Try watching the movie (which clearly didn't happen if you couldn't follow the incredibly simple plot) before ripping it apart. It's one of the few sports movies that has more going on than "will they win?" and is actually about the love of purity in sports that is easily lost when it becomes a commodity.