Score: A Hockey Musical

What an odd movie this is. It's like Glee meets hockey... not that I really know what Glee is like because God forbid I watch such a program... but I have an idea. Hockey players dancing and singing. It's a pretty stupid movie but as a hockey fan, I found many of the musical numbers rather funny to watch; I was laughing quite a bit! I'm surprised at myself for thinking that I'd actually consider watching this again someday and that says something about how worthwhile a movie is.

5.6 / 10

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener!

Telefilm's most recent Great White (Northern) Hype is another "Men With Brooms" (didn't they learn the first time?!). Ultra-contrived to match its funders' ideas of 'quirky', it manages to be a comedy almost entirely lacking any actual humour, with just about the shallowest, one- dimensional characters I've seen outside of third-rate TV shows.

As a Canadian, I would very much like for the films made in our country to be of high quality and worthy of taking pride in. Think of the output in the late 80's through the 90's, when we still funded auteur directors and invested in their development, regardless of how much 'commercial' potential their films had - this is how actual cinematic talents like Guy Maddin, Atom Egoyan, Deepa Mehta, Patricia Rozema, Don McKellar and Bruce MacDonald were able to get their start. Now, we're at a point where people in the industry think they've matured/progressed while they're making and promoting films like this one, which turns out, almost unbelievably, to be just as terrible a film as "The Love Guru". Seriously.

What is it going to take for those who are in a position to make decisions as to funding, etc. to realise that trying to pander to domestic audiences through forced, patronising, on-the- nose attempts at 'Canadian content' is never going to result in a film that is as commercially successful as they hope (not to mention that it's never going to result in anything of any actual cinematic or aesthetic quality)? And anyway, if they're really trying to appeal to some genuine, albeit misguided and juvenile, sense of Canadian patriotism, why make one of the main selling points of your film the casting of Olivia Newton-John?

I never thought anybody could dream up the combination of hockey and musical. Someone did, and Score: A Hockey musical is the result. And it is mostly what you can expect of such an unlikely combination. A cheesy, mildly entertaining string of musical numbers and a story without a trace of suspense.

It was rather amusing to see the on ice choreographed dances, hockey players in full gear normally doesn't do that. Some lyrics were quite good as well. Too much, however, was just cheesy and nothing but tedious clichés.

That the love story couldn't produce a spark to save the movies life was the tipping point though. A fun experiment, but don't expect anyone to try anytime soon again. It just doesn't work out.

Score one for conventional stories...

I've read a lot of reviews of this film out of its debut at TIFF, most of them negative, contrasting the film with the normal festival fare. And comparatively, no it's not an art house film, deeply layered, full of subtext or sparking deep thought later.

I, however, wasn't expecting that. I was expecting a fun, corny musical about our nation's favourite past-time and that's exactly what I got. It's sweet, it made me laugh aloud several times, and I simply had a very good time watching the film.

Noah Reid played the very likable male lead, Farley. He has a pleasant voice, looked natural on the ice, and nothing in his performance felt forced or fake. I hope to see him again. The best word I can think of to describe Allie MacDonald's girl-next-door character of Eve is winsome. I forgot that Stephen McHattie has done comedy before, so his turn as the owner of a pro-hockey team was surprising in how deft it is. Also enjoyable were Farley's coach and teammates, and George Stroumboulopoulos as the rink announcer.

Really, the only weak link in performance was Olivia Newton-John who seemed too stiff for the character that she was portraying. And despite how great they were individually, there wasn't a lot of chemistry between Farley and Eve.

The songs ran about fifty-fifty. Some were catchy and well-orchestrated. Some felt as though they had been written for an amateur musical.

All-in-all, I think the movie gives you exactly what you expect when you go to see a movie called "Score: A Hockey Musical". It's enjoyable, and charming, and I would recommend it to musical and hockey fans alike.

Have to say some of the reviews on IMDb for Score: A Hockey Musical surprise me.

The film was not written or directed to be an Oscar winning production. Score: A Hockey Musical is what it sets out to be, an over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, cheesy comedy-musical. There is no need or pretense that the characters need to be more than one dimensional or the plot more robust, as Score is all about FUN!!! And it delivers that in spades.

I saw the film for the first time last night as the closing feature for the 15th Annual Canberra Film Festival. The near capacity audience was in stitches throughout and gave it generous applause at the end.