Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'Slap Shot'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

The sports comedy is truly something of an enigma. There are only a handful that stay with us because well...let's face facts, sports are a serious business. I really cannot think of how many times I watch my favorite teams play and find myself rolling around with laughter. Well, except for when the Broncos destroy the Raiders...that's always hilarious.  

But I digress.  I mean what I say. The men that play sports take their profession extremely seriously, and they should. They are the elite, they are hand picked to lead their team to glory and everything is on the line when they play, so it makes sense that it is extremely difficult to find humor in what they do. But the films that have managed to figure it out are well...legendary and the other night I felt the need to sit down and watch just one of those timeless classics...Slap Shot.

Reggie Dunlop has it made. He plays the sport he loves and he's even the head coach of the hockey team the Charlestown Chiefs. There's just one problem...the Chiefs are just awful and Reggie isn't that great of a coach. But when he discovers that the team is going to fold...Reggie finds a way to turn their misfortune around, by making them a team with nothing to lose.  

This movie is in a nutshell...brilliant.  There isn't a joke in this film that doesn't work and the fact that Paul Newman, a legend in every sense of the word is the star of a low budget comedy such as this one only makes the movie that much more impressive. But what separates this film from other sports comedies? That's easy. There's not only heart to this film, but in its own special way it takes the seriousness of sports and flat out parodies it without the audience even realizing it.  

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Take the goofiness of the Hanson brothers for example, with their wide eyed grins as they beat the tar out of any unfortunate soul not wearing a Chiefs jersey. It speaks to the wild nature of the sport sometimes and how we cheer for the flying fists, but it is presented in such an over the top manner that you're left gasping for air when the laughter ends.  

But the other element that makes this flick so awesome, is what I mentioned earlier, the fact that it is full of heart and also grounded in reality. There are players out there in any sport that don't necessarily enjoy every aspect of it, or quite frankly hate it. We've seen it before, where someone retires because their heart wasn't in it, just like Ned Braden. It's his skill that keeps him in the game, but he always sees it as just that, a game. But while Braden's passion is missing, Dunlop's move of giving the team a purpose, of a true reason to play speaks volumes as to why we love sports and why we tune in. We want that passion and fire. We need it. For their desire to win it all, inspires us in ways we barely comprehend.  

Slap Shot works because it strips down the mysticism that surrounds our favorite sports. It takes the almost God like position we put these men in and brings them down to our level. They're as goofy as the rest of us and seeing that side, no matter how silly the situation is what makes this film a timeless classic.  ​

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