Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

'Mystery, Alaska' skillfully balances the comedy and drama of hockey obsession

Arizona Daily Wildcat Photo Courtesy of Hollywood Pictures Gearing up for the ritual Saturday ice hockey game are (left to right) Connor Banks (Michael Buie), Stevie Weeks (Ryan Northcott), John Biebe (Russell Crowe) and "Tree" Lane (Kevin Durand), in Hollywood Pictures' "Mystery, Alaska," which hits theaters this weekend.

In "Mystery, Alaska," there are hockey players - and a lot of them.

After all, in the real Mystery, Alaska, hockey is life. It is the pride and joy of the community, and the men who play are local celebrities. They are also the sheriff, the grocer, the high school student, etc.

Mystery is a small town, situated snugly in the great white expanse of the Alaskan wilderness - unknown to all. That is until a Sports Illustrated story, written by former Mystery resident Charles Danner, played by Hank Azaria, features the town in a cover story about (what else?) hockey. Now, thanks to the publicity, the NHL sets up an exhibition game between the Mystery team and the New York Rangers.

The town is cautious about accepting the challenge. Its players are not professionals. John Biebe (the always-wonderful Russell Crowe) is the team's aged and slow captain. In his free time he moonlights as the town sheriff. The best scorer, grocer Connor Banks (Michael Buie), has shot a Priceworld representative (a megastore considering opening a site in Mystery) and currently awaits trial, thus putting a damper on the team's scoring potential.

Skank (Ron Eldard), whose two loves are hockey and sex, "the two most fun things in cold weather," is having an adulterous affair with the mayor's wife, portrayed by Lolita Davidovich. Finally there's the team's fastest player, Stevie Weeks, a high school student who suffers from faulty first starts, both on the ice and with his girlfriend.

The motley crew from Mystery accepts the challenge. For them, it is more than just a game. This is an opportunity to maintain their dignity and their pride, to defend their small town ideals and values. These simple people wish to prove to the invaders (Priceworld, the New York Rangers, the television audience) that their way of life, though less modern and less glamorous, is just fine how it is.

The film manages to handle these larger, often trite themes, without being heavy-handed, thanks in large part to David E. Kelley, who has shown an ability to balance comedy and drama in his TV shows and to the director Jay Roach, whose last films were the Austin Powers movies.

Roach, who snags a hilarious Mike Myers cameo, keeps the movie light-hearted with some very funny scenes while at the same time convincingly developing the relationships between the characters.

With three dimensional characters, "Mystery, Alaska" becomes more than just another Cinderella sports team movie. Therefore, by the film's end, the game becomes less about winning and more about the reconstruction of the tight-knit community that existed before the Sports Illustrated story.

Roach manages to belie the conventions of the outmatched-underdogs-playing-in-the-big-game genre, and not lose his audience in the process. And he does it without a snaggle-toothed superspy. Groovy baby.