Directed by Michael Dowse Starring Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Liev Schreiber, Alison Pill, Marc-André Grondin, Eugene Levy 16 cert, general release, 91 min

AS THE muted "overseas" response to Moneyballdemonstrated, films concerning American sports rarely thrive outside the United States. Crawling out in one of the year's quietest weeks, this odd comedy is – away from the snowy countries, anyway – unlikely to set too many box offices alight. That's a shame. Against the odds, Goonturns out to be a noisy, bloody, surprisingly touching little winner. With apologies to The Mighty Duckswe are, almost certainly, looking at the second- best ice hockey movie ever made. ( Slap Shotretains the top spot.)

Bigger and bumpier than ever, Seann William Scott turns up as Doug, a decent, slow-witted adopted son of a doctor, living an aimless life as a bar bouncer. Ice hockey being a sport that is rarely confused with croquet, a minor- league Canadian team signs Doug up to act as its ruthless enforcer.

Doug can barely skate. He holds his stick as you might hold a pickaxe. But he’s always on hand to ram the opposing players’ molars down their muscular gullets. Then, while moping about Halifax, Doug falls for a manic pixie dream girl (Alison Pill) and contemplates a showdown with the league’s aging master bruiser (Liev Schreiber).

Goonhas much fun with its grubby, low-rent milieu. Players talk dirty in the most amusingly dumb fashion. Doug treats his hitman role with an admirable seriousness. Bloody fluids are swilled around with great abandon. So far, so mindless. But a surprisingly healthy heart beats within Goon's broad chest. When Doug tells his father (Eugene Levy) that, though no heart surgeon, he has finally found a purpose in life, weepier viewers might find themselves reaching for the tissues. A cute pastiche of the diner scene from Heatraises laughs without giving in to archness.

Well worth a glance.