Charles Danner (Hank Azaria), once a resident of Mystery, left the town long ago in order to get a better life for himself. Feeling that the town shunned him, Charles returns to get revenge on the town by showwing them just how important he has become.
Charles has an announcement: he has a deal to bring the New York Rangers of the NHL to Mystery, to play an exhibition game against Mystery's finest.
Needless to say, the town is mixed on the idea: the team captain (Russell Crowe) thinks it's a stupid idea; the Mayor (Colm Meany) thinks the Mystery team will be wooped 23-0 and their pride will be flushed down the toilet.
Can the Mystery boys hold their ground and actually be competition for the Rangers, in front of the entire hockey world?
Going into the film, I thought we would have another sports film where the underdog beats the favorite. We don't have that. We don't even have a film where the underdog ties the favorite.
For the hockey side of Mistery, Alaska, it is a decent film. Hot-shots who think they have what it takes get a chance to proove themselves. Kinda like Rocky, in a way. Bu this is not "The Rocky of hockey."
For the most part, Mystery, Alaska is a cross between a sports flick and bowl of spagehtti. Each character in the film has their own path - a spaghetti noodle if you will. And while all of these "noodles" cross, we can never find the end. In fact there are just too many loose ends that never get tied up. This is where the film looses its sports feel.
For starters, there is an illicit love affair between the Mayor's with and the town philanderer (appropriatly named Skank). The Mayor of course finds out about the affair. There is a big scene in which the Mayor and his wife have a fight, and for a while they dislike each other very much so. By the film's end, they have not reconcieled or talked about the affair, nut they seem to have gotten back together.
Next, there is the tension between Sheriff John and his wife over Charles, her old flame. This tension is washed away by John crossing out some words in a Dear Abby column. OK...
Thirdly, there is an episode between Stevie Weeks and his girlfriend, where they try to have sex (he ejaculates prematurely). Stevie leaves at the end of the picture, without having sex, and simply states that he will be back in a few months. Right...
Charlie never does get his revenge on the town. In fact, he leaves without accomplishing the goal he set out to achieve.
And then there is Skank Marden. Ahhh, Skank. Well, Skank seems to have an active social life... with women. He flings around here and there and is big philanderer. There are too many back stories created with this character and we do get confused. Maybe they should just have stuck to hockey.
Plot: 
The film's premis was decent enough, but it's those darn loose ends that neede tieing up that never got done. With just the hockey, the plot would have been fairly saound.
Visual Effects:
Pretty plain and average. However, the hockey scenes were well done, and you ahve got to lve the mountain back-drop, filmed in my home province of Alberta!
Sound:
The cheesy music is not right for the film, espcially at the end, but the rest of the score is good.
Character Development:
Atmosphere:
You get right into the film thinking it is a hockey movie, but it quickly looses that feeling. However, you stay no matter what.
Realism:
Warren's Rating:
6.85/10Is the movie worth your time to watch?
31-07-04
