Reviews

Oh my oh my, where to start? This thing was more disjointed than a yoga instructor's convention in Fort Lauderdale.

It isn't exactly a comedy, because of the near "Deliverance"-like attitude of the "Judge" (played by Akroyd in a rubber suit reminiscent of Jabba the Hut), but it isn't a horror flick because (unfortunately) no one dies. It fails on both ends.

About halfway through, you swear that Akroyd dragged Candy, Chase and Moore into this because they thought it would be "a feel-good movie". Truth is, it is painfully obvious to the viewer that whoever wrote the screenplay didn't actually finish it.

The bathroom humor and just plain grossness of Akroyd's character is too much, and the combination of Chase and Moore just does not work here. Candy comes off too smarmy, and having him play his "sister" in this thing is ridiculous. And Demi, playing cards with two ultra-repulsive "children" of the "Judge" character... the phrase, "biggest waste of talent since Tom Hanks in Bosom Buddies" comes to mind.

It would be my personal recommendation that you refuse to pay any money to see this film, either on video, DVD, film, hand signals or papier-mache.

This, ladies and gentlemen, was a great movie.

Of all of the hockey films that have come out (mostly by Disney, for some reason) in recent years, this one gives you the best feel for what the greatest moment in sports history was like.

Though some liberties were taken with the storyline - there were no fights in practice, Eruzione didn't end the skate-til-you-puke session in Norway, and the pre-game speech that Kurt Russell gave was never made - this story is the ultimate good guys beat the bad guys film.

There were many things about the story of the USA team that I'd forgotten in the intervening years: how Eruzione had come close to being cut, about O'Callahan being hurt in the prelims, and even about how players used to celebrate a goal by pouring out onto the ice. (That practice was actually legislated away for the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo by the IIHF.) The fact that the O'Connors went out of their way to find hockey players and make them actors lends more credibility to the game sequences. The sticks and uniforms were basically accurate - though I don't believe the Tuuk blades were around back in 1980; I could be wrong, though.

I do know at least one person who doesn't care for the film, but that's because she's from Russia, and to her (at least) the bad guys won.

Overall, this is a film that can get a hockey fan through a long off-season - or an idiotic self-inflicted labor dispute.

The original series on ABC had some funny moments, but most of the scripts seemed forced. It's also generally never a good idea to have the female lead get pregnant one or two shows in to the series.

The series on NBC was a good one, and should have gotten at least another year to build up an audience - which I think it would have. I didn't care for Cusack as the new Karen, but that version of the show was a lot more "Foxworthy" than the ABC version.

Jay Mohr... was just awful. Bill Engvall was a better (and funnier) foil for Jeff. The addition of his character (and Michelle Clunie as Dee Dee Landreaux) was a vain attempt by ABC to boost up the ratings on the show.

The only thing that could have saved the original ABC show was different writers - but by the time that happened, it was on a new network. NBC was just as forgiving as ABC was.

This show doesn't taint Jeff's comedy at all, but I can only imagine that he didn't care much for the ABC storyline.