Directed by Michael McGowan
Written by Michael McGowan
Starring Noah Reid, Allie MacDonald, Olivia Newton-John, Stephen McHattie
Writer/director Michael McGowan has clearly made a film for Canadians with Score: A Hockey Musical, peppering his story of a teenage hockey phenom with cameos by Walter Gretzky, George Stroumboulopoulos, and Nelly Furtado.
Noah Reid plays Farley Gordon, a sheltered, highly intelligent 17-year-old who happens to be the next Sidney Crosby. But he’s never even played an organized game. Homeschooled by bougie intellectuals, he been raised to believe that hockey is a primitive blood sport for goonish high-school dropouts looking to sweat out a 24 of Labatt.
When he’s discovered playing a pick up game by the owner of the Brampton Blades (Stephen McHattie), he becomes an overnight sensation, much to his parents’ dismay. And his pacifist beliefs soon come into conflict with the brutality of the league.
Score: A Hockey Musical is a mild, tongue-in-cheek comedy. Much of its potential edge has tempered by our storied Canadian politeness, giving much of the script the feeling of trying to sneak gay jokes past YTV censors. Nevertheless, it’s diverting. Reid has almost frightening blend of fresh-faced likeability and endearing awkwardness, as if Michael Cera bathed in Zac Efron’s blood to absorb his vitality. Olivia Newton-John, as Farley’s mom, is fun to watch, and some of the songs are catchy, particularly a play-by-play of a hockey fight.
