H-E Double Hockey Sticks

I thought H-E Double Hockey Sticks was a good movie, even if it wasn't exactly the most original. I stars Will Friedle and Matthew Lawrence, and since I am a Boy Meets World fan I thought they were great in it.

Rhea Perlman plays a character named Ms. Beezlebub. Get it? If you don't, then you won't appreciate this made-for-TV Disney movie about a famous hockey player (Matthew Lawrence, the kid who said "Why don't I get Indian burns?" in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles) who sells his soul to a demon played by the funny Will Friedle ("Boy Meets World").

Adequate television viewing fueled by Friedle's performance; otherwise, this is one for the tots.

In September, 1999 two hockey movies exploded on the scene; Mystery, Alaska and H.E. Double Hockey Sticks. Oddly enough, H.E. Double Hockey Sticks was the better of the two, odd because H.E. was a cheap made for television movie.

Based on the opera ‘Griffelkin', the film concerns a demon named Griffelkin, played by Will Friedle, who is sent up from the depths of hell to obtain the soul of a National Hockey League player named Dave Heinrich. The film chronicles the personal conflict within the demon as he grows more attached to the young hockey player and is eventually forced to choose between his loyalty to his friend or a betrayal to his eternal homeland. A betrayal that might lead to some dire consequences. The outcome is predictable but executed very well. A strange character known only as Gabriel(Gabrielle Union), an apprentice demon, manages to lead Griffelkin down the path of righteousness without ever making the intentions clear to him or the audience.

The Boy Meets World guys, Friedle and Lawrence, team up with some of the crew that brought us The Sixth Man for an action packed hockey movie. The film is good because it never takes itself seriously. The hockey scenes are all very well shot.

Rhea Perlman is great as Mrs. B, the dean of the Beelzebub Vocationary Institute a demon training school. Kim Greist is also good as Mary Antoinette. Greist manages to convey so much just with facial expressions alone. The stand-out of the film is Friedle whom I predict has a big future in the movies. Where he was merely good in Trojan War, in Sticks he absolutely owns the camera the second he walks on screen. I especially enjoyed his scenes with She's All That's, Gabrielle Union. The two have a definite chemistry that leaves you wanting more. Hopefully this isn't the last movie they do together.

The script is very good with lots of foreshadowing, symbolism, inside jokes and references to pop-culture.

Look for ESPN's Brad Nessler and hockey players Luc Robataille and Paul Kariya all in bit parts as themselves. Also look for Tyler Labine(Breaker High's Jimmy) as Mark in a small role. Trivia buffs will note that Mystery, Alaska(the other hockey movie) also starred Rachel Wilson, another Breaker High alumni.

10+ !! This was a FANTASTIC movie...there were some slow parts, but not very many, and most of them resulted from a severe and poorly planned lack of Will Friedle on the screen. He's hilarious in this film. I can't wait to see him in more movies. The characters were great, and even the costuming and hit-you-over-the-head good and evil motifs were fun to spot. I saw the movie in 1999, and have been carefully hunting a video release. As soon as it's out there, I'll be the first one to own it. I have a copy taped from the TV with commercials in it, that I watch about once a month. I'm emphatically thanking Disney for picking up this idea and making it happen. Hockey was a GREAT way to do this story.

I was flipping through the channels on day when I happened to come across this movie. I was enthralled from the first I saw of it. I was trying to figure out who the actor was playing Griffelkin and I was surprised to find out it was Will Friedle, who I enjoyed in My Date With The President's Daughter, also a Disney movie. I would recommend this movie to anyone, even if it's just to laugh with Will Friedle.