Slap Shot

Starring: Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Strother Martin, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse
Directed by: George Roy Hill
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
1977
Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: An over-the-hill player/coach (Paul Newman) on one of the worst hockey teams in the leagues suddenly turns his season around when he encourages his team to play dirty and fight as much as possible.

Review:

Tim: Slap Shot has such a great reputation- it has been called one of the greatest sports movies of all time. After watching it, I am still scratching my head a bit. It was a decent movie, but I am shocked that it is as beloved as it is. Besides a few funny moments, the film runs on too long, is too boring, and ends in terrible fashion. I acknowledge that perhaps I just don't get this movie, because I tried to see why people love this movie so much, but I just couldn't see it.

I do understand some of the appeal- namely, the scenes with the Hanson Brothers. This is indeed classic filmmaking, as some of their fight scenes are among the funniest ever captured on screen. These scenes are violent, but so, so funny. I love that they get into a fight before the National Anthem even begins, and the scene where one of them skates past the opposing team's bench and hits all the players in the head with his stick is classic. I really did love these scenes, and I laughed out loud at them.

Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is much, much weaker. The film gives us a team of people we can't root for, because it is hard to care about them. There are really no good characters in this entire film. Every single one is horribly flawed in one way or another (which, I suppose, is realistic), so I had a hard time caring what happened in any of the games. Plus, the outcomes of the games are either assumed or not very well communicated. Regardless, the majority of the characters are weak, so the more dramatic elements of the film became boring and tiresome.

I wasn't particularly impressed with Paul Newman, either. I thought he did a decent job, but I wouldn't include this among any of his best roles. His character was actually quite boring, and some of the talking scenes were downright dull. I know that Newman loved working on this movie, but I just can't see where that enthusiasm emerged. I was thoroughly bored with much of this film.

I really spent some time after watching this movie, looking for what I had obviously missed. Despite all my research, I remain unchanged. I think this is a vastly overrated movie that has achieved a great reputation and almost an untouchable aura. It is very possible that this movie just didn't age well, but try as I might, I cannot believe this is a very good movie. I hold the silly, pointless conclusion up as an example. I can't imagine too many people love this ending. It is wholly unsatisfying and really reveals how stupid and pointless much of the movie ended up being. I definitely give the film credit for trying an unconventional, unique conclusion, but it just doesn't work here.

Slap Shot will end up being one of those movies that I may never fully understand. I did my due diligence, but I still think this is a boring movie that- despite those terrific Hanson brothers fights, isn't nearly as good as people claim. I am not trying to say this is a terrible movie- there is much to like here. I love the (somewhat) realistic look at hockey in the 1970s, and the fight scenes are pretty excellent. However, the characters and the drama elements are sorely lacking, which prevents this movie from being very good at all. I'm sorry to say that I am just not a fan of Slap Shot at all.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 6.5



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