Simply A Masterpiece

Just perfect...

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Michael Keaton, cast as Bobby "The Hornet" Barbato, the star player on a Chicago ice hockey team, is in terrific physical shape and gives this formula "feel good" movie whatever vitality it has. Bobby is mugged after a game in the parking lot by a young boy and his teenage gang; he ends up begrudgingly giving a helping hand to the belligerent kid while also dating the boy's mother. Director Robert Mandel, a stage director who made an impressive movie debut with 1983's "Independence Day", can't shake off the sitcom cobwebs here. Everything--from the kid's perpetually disgusted expression to the exaggerated reactions of the waiter while Keaton and Maria Conchita Alonso change their dinner orders--is underlined, slammed home. Nothing in the picture feels fresh or comes off natural, certainly not the ugly, combative dialogue by the three screenwriters, Alan Ormsby, Bob Sand and Harry Colomby (also the executive producer). Back to the plot: Alonso is next in line to get hit by the gang of punks (who apparently have nothing else to do but bully this family). By the time Keaton tracks them down (with help from the kid), you might be wishing for the typical assembly-line finale with an important hockey game hanging in the balance. * from ****

This was a great film to watch and very entertaining. I picked it up cheap in the local DVD store and wasn't expecting anything much. However I was surprised that I really enjoyed it. The characters were believable and well scripted. All the actors were good, especially in the more comic moments of the film. However the little boy was especially impressive in his role of a streetwise child running wild. The relationships between the characters are carefully developed and you find yourself caring about what happens to them. It was especially interesting to see the much younger Michael Keaton and Maria Conchita Alonso. All round good family entertainment.I would strongly recommend it.

It was all here. The casting is good, everyone in this movie is competent. Alonzo is great to look at.The storyline is good, analyze the scripting: even it is good and the plot is VERY plausible... but it's missing "heart" even though it's what the movie is all about.But I dont understand why the hockey action wasnt re-shot after the dailies... looks like Keaton's ego went wild and the action is ridiculous, all the moves of an 8 year old rec hockey player. And I dont understand a team trying to make the play-offs but never practices.Who do we blame for this ... Keaton? The Director?And who picked the "musical" background for this thing.. sure does date it, or consign it to the made for TV genre. Which I guess it is.Overall, it's a better story than it is a movie... so I guess it serves a purpose: to be the base from which to compare Keaton's other work.Worth watching but not renting unless you get it for a buck.

Not a very believable storyline especially in today's sports crazy environment... a sports star can have any girl he/she wants, but in this movie the hero falls in love with a destitute mother of one... (I guess this happened to Troy, but...).The few hockey scenes that are left in the movie give a taste of what could have been... they are nicely done, but too few... the rest of the movie is a little convoluted. Rent before buying...