Kevin Smith has a problem with jobs like mine, but I’m still going to do it anyway. For the most part I enjoy Kevin Smith even when I don’t agree with what he says but since he has the balls to say what he wants, when he wants, I can’t fault him too much. And besides, occasionally he makes a decent movie. Hit Somebody, the hockey film he has been talking about for years now, has finally found a lead in newcomer Nicholas Braun.
Braun has had relative success in the kid movie and television department having appeared in Sky High and the slightly more grown up 10 Thing I Hate About You (which isn’t as grown up as its predecessor movie or the Shakespearean comedy that was based on, but whatever) before landing a role in Smith’s horror flick Red State. Smith has a knack for finding great talent prior to them exploding in popularity (Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, the kid who played Elias in Clerks II who should be more famous than he is), so if he says the kid is good, I believe him.
But as for the film itself, I’m conflicted. Smith originally wanted Seann William Scott for the lead but Scott committed to Goon, which is filming earlier than Hit Somebody. Goon comes from Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg, staples of the Judd Apatow stable. And while there have been slight rumors that the films are similar, Smith assures us that they are different and that he has no hard feelings for Scott taking the other part. Now, I’m all for Kevin Smith doing his own thing and when he gets to writing about what he is passionate about he really can’t be beat (not to mention this song is based on a Warren Zevon song and the scope of the film is beyond anything Smith has done before). But Baruchel and Goldberg? If anyone could put up a fight to Kevin Smith, its someone from the Apatow camp.
However, if the Mighty Ducks have taught as anything, besides that ducks fly together, you can never have enough Hockey movies.
Source: IndieWire
