Michael Dowse’s GOON is just about the most enjoyable sports comedy I’ve seen in years. I don’t say that because I was able to gush the sentiment in person to the film’s two stars, Seann William Scott and Jay Baruchel, but because it genuinely is a hilarious, sweet and engrossing good time, a movie that’s knowledgeable and passionate about the sport it centers around. That is to say, this could ONLY be a hockey movie; you couldn’t just plug its characters into any old sport, the way so many disposable movies of this type seem to do.
Scott and Baruchel (who also co-wrote the screenplay), play good-natured best friends in the film, and they’re just as affable in person. Thankfully, both are smarter than the goofs they portray – Scott’s a lot savvier than his lovable lug Doug and Barachul’s certainly more laid-back than the hyper, foul-mouthed Ryan. Sitting down with the two, I asked them about the appeal of hockey and what it means to be a GOON.
“This was a very easy means of combining three of my favorite loves: my country, cinema and hockey.”