Mystery, Alaska

Pros: Stellar cast; interesting premise
Cons: Slow, slow pacing

It never seems to fail. Show me a movie about hockey and I will get sucked into watching it without any question. It's just an innate trait that's planted at birth for anyone born in Canada. So when Mystery, Alaska was on the tube while I was ...

Pros: Original concept, good use of dark comedy, consistently good performances.
Cons: Sometimes melodramatic, key elements are missing from the script, the way the game is played.

Sports fans are always coming up with “what if?” scenarios for their favorite professional clubs and athletes as well as their local teams. They’re the kind of situations that could never actually happen because of time (what if Muhammad Ali ...

Pros: Russell Crowe, beautiful scenery, inspiring, funny
Cons: too boring for some people

I'll admit it, the first time I saw Mystery, Alaska was the first time in my life that I thought about hockey. In fact, I started watching hockey... and still do when I can. =) So, while there's much hockey in this movie I don't feel you need to...

Pros: Great Scenery; Good Story
Cons: A little unbelievable

We initially rented this movie because it was guaranteed at Blockbuster Video to be liked or your money was refunded in the form of a store coupon. We figured that the movie must be good, so we rented it not knowing what it was about.

My...

Pros: Gives respect to small town life
Cons: predictible

Mystery Alaska is one of those movies where you cheer for the home team, and issues get resolved, all in an hour and a half. Mystery is a hockey town, with heart. Everyone skates in this town. Everything is frozen over, and they skate on the frozen...

Pros: A film with real heart.
Cons: None.

I found this gem- having never heard or read anything about it. I'm a David E. Kelly fan so it didn't surprise me that, after watching this lovely little film unfold, I fell in love with it. The thrust of the film is that a former resident (Hank ...

Pros: Sports movies always have good endings.
Cons: It's like a 'Sports Movie Quilt'.

Writer David E. Kelley once again inspires millions of struggling screenwriters by proving you can be a critical and financial powerhouse without possessing one new idea. He must have one hell of a Word program, because he just cuts and pastes scenes...

Pros: A very nicely told story, exceptional scenery.
Cons: The story lacks extreme excitement, heavy drama or outright laughs.

The Story

The isolated small town of Mystery, Alaska has a good thing going on. This quote from the film best describes their ‘good thing’; ”The legendary hockey players of Mystery, Alaska were born on skates in a world perpetually...

Pros: great scenery; some good skating
Cons: basically a stupid premise

For those of you who came of late to the lore of ice hockey, here is my sole claim to fame: I was in the arena for Wayne Gretzky's first professional hockey game. That's more than twenty-five years ago, for those of you who are keeping count. And no, it...

Pros: Wonderful Underdog Story With An Absolutely Enchanting Story
Cons: Film Contains Partial Nudity and Way Too Much Profanity

There are very few movies which I would like to see on the big screen at the box office, and even fewer R rated movies. However, when I saw the previews of Mystery, Alaska, I knew that I had to go see this movie on the big screen.
...

Pros: Crowe, Azaria, Meaney, Reynolds and a great hockey game.
Cons: It was boring in the beginning and took too much time to get to the plot of the movie.

Directed by M. Jay Roach ("Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me") and written by David E. Kelly ("The Practice", "Ally McBeal" and "L.A. Law"), Mystery,...

Pros: great hockey shots; interesting, likeable characters
Cons: improbable plot, WAY too many storylines

Yes, with the Stanley Cup playoffs finally over, this serious hockey fan was starting to feel withdrawal pangs until my dearest husband brought Mystery, Alaska home from the video store.

This is not a deep movie. It's a simple movie...

Pros: A Movie with a Plot
Cons: Not for everyone

I am not the world's biggest hockey fan and I guess that is why I enjoyed this movie so much. If you are looking for a good ole down to earth hockey game this is the movie for you. If you're a hockey fan who only wants to watch hockey then this is not...

Pros: Fun little romp. Burt Reynolds gets better looking with age.
Cons: some unanswered questions from subplots.

What is there to do where the temperature is minus 30? Only two things that the residents of Mystery, Alaska can think of.

Hockey and fornication.

In this wee town where hockey is king, men are her slaves and women are good for...

Pros: Snow is pretty
Cons: script, characters, plot. Pretty much everything except the talent of Crowe & Azaria

If you went to see “Mystery Alaska” in the theatres, or even if you rented it, then you probably had something relatively “safe” in mind: an offbeat sports feel-good/comedy. As absurdly difficult as it is to go drastically wrong when adhering to this...