Goon: Last of the Enforcers not as fun as Goon but still fun

(L-R) Liev Schreiber as Ross Rhea and Seann William Scott as Doug Glatt in the comedy film “Goon: Last of the Enforcers” a Momentum Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Momentum Pictures.

Goon: Last of the Enforcers suffers from sequelitis in that it’s not quite as great as the first film but it’s still one that is fun to watch.

Directed by Jay Baruchel from a screenplay written by Baruchel and Jesse Chabot, the sequel stars Seann William Scott, Alison Pill, Marc-André Grondin, Wyatt Russell, Callum Keith Rennie, Jason Jones, with Jay Baruchel, with Elisha Cuthbert, Kim Coates, and Liev Schreiber.

This is the feature directorial debut for Baruchel.  He takes over the chair from Goon director Michael Dowse.  It’s not a bad first outing.  Anytime you direct a sports comedy, there has to be a perfect mix of both sports and comedy.  So many sports comedies have failed where the previous Goon succeeded and this one does as well to an extent.

At the start of the film Doug Glatt (Scott) is forced into retirement after suffering one too many injuries.  He does this mostly out out of love to his pregnant wife, Eva (Pill).  He finds himself selling insurance but being a sports guy, he doesn’t want to give up on his dreams so when the Halifax Highlanders come calling, Doug listens and joins them.

Schreiber returns as Ross “The Boss” Rhea, now the champ of of Bruised & Battered, a league that isn’t so much hockey in as much as it is just pure fighting.  Doug gets Ross to sign on as his training partner.  Both are at different points in their career.  Rhea is clearly on the way out.

Wyatt Russell is a newcomer to the franchise as Anders Cane.  He’s the bad guy in the sequel and all he really wants to do on the ice is please his dad, Hyrum Cane (Rennie).  His dad is a former Highlander Captain, a former coach of Montreal, and a Hall of Famer.

In typical sports comedy fashion, the film ends on the Highlanders scoring a goal on a buzzer beater to advance to the playoffs.  Spoiler alert:  this isn’t a spoiler alert because it’s such an overdone sports film cliche to win at the end of the movie, either for a championship or to go to the playoffs.

There’s the potential to make the Goon franchise a trilogy and I don’t think that we’ve seen the end of the squad.  After all, there was a five year period in between the two films.  Baruchel refers to Goon: Last of the Enforcers as “the end” so it’s possible that we meet up with the Highlanders somewhere in between.

Momentum Pictures will open Goon in select theaters, VOD platforms, and Digital HD on September 1, 2017.

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

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