Visitors Review

phreakyd 2013-05-19 23:15:15

Appalling abuse of Canadian tax dollars

Not only am I offended that such an awful movie came out of my country,it represents everything that is wrong with the Canadian movie industryand the ridiculous politics behind it.The end credits reveal to me that the production of this catastrophewas supported by tax credits from the governments of Canada andOntario, as well as by financial assistance from Telefilm Canada. Iconfess I had to Google the latter, only by an intense curiosity tofind out who would contribute money to such an obviously bad film. Loand behold I find that Telefilm Canada is a crown corporation of thegovernment of Canada, "dedicated to the development and promotion ofthe Canadian audiovisual industry." (ref:http://www.telefilm.gc.ca/en/telefilm/telefilm/mission)In other words, my hard earned tax dollars helped pay for this piece ofcrap! Telefilm Canada, in its vision statement, claims to be "fundinghigh-quality productions," and further it "believes that the mainmeasure of its success lies in the Canadian public's appetite for theworks and products it funds." I'm not sure how the board and seniormanagement team of this institution gauge key deliverables such as"high-quality productions" or "public appetite", but surely by anymeasure this has to be considered a failure of the highest magnitude.Not only are my tax dollars hard at work funding this and otherCanadian-made monstrosities that will never make it to my local movietheatre, the real "appetite" for these productions is from Canadiantelevision networks such as Movie Central, who broadcast are forced tobroadcast poor quality Canadian films in order to fill their quota ofCanadian productions because of Canadian Content legislation.Oh, in case you didn't figure it out, I really don't like this film.The cast is a veritable "who's who" of the Canadian televisionadvertising industry, which tells you pretty much everything you needto know about the quality of acting, and the writing is beyond poor.Apart from my tax money, and 90 minutes of my time, being wasted, mybiggest regret is that I can't give this movie a rating lower than 1.

Al_and_Smithy 2013-05-18 16:22:54

I expected it to be awful....

...but I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it's not going to win anyacademy awards, but I found it entertaining and funny. It was done in adocumentary style. I'd call it the "Spinal Tap" of Hockey movies. Itcould also be compared to "The Office" in the style of film making thatwas used. Of course, it's not as good as either of those examples, butI did find myself laughing out loud a few times. I was a littleintimidated by the reviews done by Canadians, but I find that itreminded me of when I played in a rec league. Maybe the jokes were oldhat to them, and that's why they didn't find them funny, but to me itwasn't the same old thing. The plot was fairly simplistic, but thecomradery and tensions between teammates and opponents felt real to me.If you are like me, and HAVE to watch any and all hockey movie made,I'd suggest you give it a chance. I'd like to hear some more reviews tosee if anyone agrees with me.

hghstick-472-144812 2013-05-18 06:40:55

What did you expect - The Piano?

This movie was a pleasant surprise. Unlike the poor reviews given byprevious IMDb critics, Puck Hogs was silly, sophomoric, and just plainfunny. It's not a deep, introspective look at the of world of hockey.For that I recommend Les Chiefs. And, fortunately, Puck Hogs wasn't aMighty Ducks turd-fest. For that, I recommend...well, The Might Ducksor Youngblood. Puck Hogs was not a Slapshot, nor do I think it everytried to be. It is a low-budget, parody of Canadian recreationalhockey. If you have ever played rec hockey you will enjoy the humour(e.g., foul smelling hockey bag, a-hole convenors, stacked opposingteams wanting to win at all costs, terrible refereeing, excessiveafter-game drinking, etc.). To those who hated the movie I say this -good grief, what did you expect - it's a movie about a rec hockey team.I suppose you hate Don Cherry too. Get over yourselves.

theannakostan 2013-05-18 12:08:41

Bad

I saw this film at the festival and it was just so bad that peoplewalked out. I watch a lot of movies and I have never once walked out ofa film but I was so bored and even literally offended by how bad thejokes in this movie were that I almost walked out. I almost walked outof "Threesome" when I was younger at the theatre and then I almostwalked out of this movie years later, and the only reason I didn't wasI was worried the cast and or crew would be there and I did not want tooffend anybody. I found myself looking at my watch thinking the moviemust be a half hour in and seeing only eight minutes had passed. Theentire audience was pretty quiet through out except for a few forcedsounding/polite laughs. The acting was not very good (tho def notterrible) and the big problem was the writing/direction of the film,the jokes were all very bad and predictable and yes the acting couldhave been better, just seems like a really amateurish production to me.

Robert Boyle 2013-05-18 00:49:32

Awful Non-Comedy

The VIFF reviews page at Third Row or whatever the publication iscalled hit the nail right on the head when they call this "a sad littlecomedy". Except I don't think the word comedy should even apply, does afilm count as a comedy simply for trying to be a comedy or should it atleast be funny at some point? The review does point out that the filmis funny for the first five or ten minutes and I guess that is true inthat at least it kept my interest for that long, but even if you likethe beginning the movie is a real snooze fest from there on. Theperformances are all wooden and unfunny and you can tell the actors arejust thinking "what the hell is going on and when can I just get paidand get out of here?" The director is Warren P. Sonoda and if you clickon his name it takes you to other titles like Ham and Cheese and foranyone else out there who has seen Ham and Cheese you will know I amright to ask this question, "who keeps letting Warren P. Sonoda makemovies?" The guy obviously has no clue what comedy is or even how tomake a coherent or interesting film. The production values look sloppyand again, after the first few minutes the movie comes off the railsand becomes a series of scenes with confused actors playing oddballcharacters trying desperately to get a laugh. I think people werefalling asleep during this movie. Not just saying that, it was thatboring and that poorly received. I didn't see anyone walk out but aftersitting through 20 minutes of this awful movie I grabbed my coat andwas ready to walk out as soon as other people started to, I wish I hadthe guts to start the stampede for the exit myself, everyone elseprobably would have thanked me. There is some recognizable Canadiantalent in the film but this is nobody's best work and again I think itcomes down to a horrible script (after the first few minutes) andreally incompetent directing. Avoid this movie unless you are amasochist.