I never realized that Slap Shot would be such a foul mouthed and vulgar laugh fest. Imagine Animal House crossed with Major League and you get this hilarious cult classic. Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the player-coach of the of the Charlestown Chiefs, a crappy minor league hockey team that is on the verge of folding. Reggie is one of those guys that was never good enough to make it to the big time but doesn't know how to do anything else, so he decides to make his potentially last season worthwhile. He motivates his team to play harder by placing a story in the newspaper saying that there is a potential buyer of the team. After the Hanson brothers, a trio of roughhousing goons, joins the team, the Chiefs suddenly reinvent themselves into a dirty hard hitting team and starts winning.
The plot in itself isn't spectacular; it's just a variation of the lovable losers underdog story, but as with most comedies the plot is just there as a vehicle to tell the jokes. I actually can't remember seeing a movie where Paul Newman curses, but he swears up a storm here. It is the kind of comedy that has aged well given the modern audience's growing tastes in distastefulness. My favorite line of the film is when Reggie is trying to antagonize the opposing goalie by skating around him calling his wife a lesbian. "Suzanne sucks pussy! Hey Hanrahan she's a dyke! I know, I know! She's a lesbian, a lesbian!" It is the kind of childish humor I always thought Newman was above but I was really pleasantly surprised to see him in this kind of role.
Slap Shot is as crude and vulgar as the style of play of the Chiefs which is sort of the point. It's really the ultimate guy's film; it stars the awesome Paul Newman, is about sports, is deliciously dirty and funny.
Grade: B+
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