For those of you who came of late to the lore of ice hockey, here is my sole claim to fame: I was in the arena for Wayne Gretzky's first professional hockey game. That's more than twenty-five years ago, for those of you who are keeping count. And no, it was not for the Edmonton Oilers, it was for the Indianapolis Racers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association. Trivia question answer: the Racers also had the last maskless goalie in the pros, one Andy Brown.
Ice hockey has never exactly been prime fare for sports movies. There have been more movies about figure skating than about ice hockey over the years; heck, as far as I know, there was only one. That film, the immortal Slapshot, in which we saw a rare glimpse of Paul Newman in a purely comic role. Mystery even pays homage to Slapshot's most comic scene; the jock-strap skate.
Mystery, Alaska presents a tale of a mythical town somewhere in the great frozen north where men -- and boys -- still play hockey for the love of the game, not for money and fame. The guys who play in the regular Saturday game are everyday people the other six days of the week. There's the sheriff, the grocery store clerk, the snow plow driver: all regular guys. Mystery's idyllic setting is shattered by a "Sports Illustrated" article about the weekly game. In the ensuing storm of publicity, a major network arranges a game between the boys of Mystery and the New York Islanders; and Mystery may never be the same again.
Along the way, we're treated to views of slices of small-town life, the same wherever you live: a desert, polar-bear country, or in between. The stress of the upcoming game opens old (and new) rifts in marriages, and the desire to succeed has more than one character on a healthy diet of crow. There's even a jab at the manner in which star athletes (at any level) seem to be accorded special treatment in the judicial system. Yet as the credits scroll by, we can be sure that those everyday men of Mystery -- and their women -- will return to a normal life once the last network chopper has departed. The boards will be torn down, and they'll return to the purity of pond hockey.
Why would you want to watch this film? 1) Some of us will appreciate all those locker-room scenes of Russell Crowe's pectorals. 2) More of us will enjoy the beauty of the outdoors (it was actually filmed in British Columbia and Alberta, but it's still beautiful). 3) The hockey is good, darn good; and remarkably bloodless. There's good, hard checking; some pure stickwork, skating, and shooting; and good camera work on the ice scenes. 4) The characterizations are a little stereotypical -- the clueless teenager, the perpetual womanizer, the regal judge, and the stoic sheriff -- but all still likeable.
What's wrong with this film? Not much, except 1) that the premise is pretty stupid. Really, if these guys were that good, they'd have already been scouted out by the hockey leagues and the best would have left long ago. 2) One of the characters is an annoying TV commentator, who would better have been left on the cutting room floor.
Watch it for some good hockey (better than Slapshot) and a fun little story.
Starring Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Mary McCormack, Lolita Davidovich and Burt Reynolds, Mystery, Alaska is an engaging tale of David and Goliath on ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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