Mystery, Alaska (1999): Dir: Jay Roach / Cast: Russell Crowe, Burt Reynolds, Colm Meaney, Hank Azaria, Mary McCormack: Yet another sports film about the succeeding smaller factor. Russell Crowe plays a Sheriff who also plays ice hockey but he never goals. Burt Reynolds plays a judge who is disappointed with his son's choices. Colm Meaney plays the Mayor whose wife is having an affair. Finally there is Hank Azaria who returns to town. Crowe dislike him because he dated his wife in high school. Directed by Jay Roach but still a recycled and predictable plot. This is a switch in gears for the director who previously gave us Austin Powers. Russell Crowe is inspiring casting as someone whose love for hockey never deteriorated despite never having the talent to pull it off professionally. Now he feels his marriage threatened with the return of an ex. Hank Azaria succeeds as someone whose presence is not welcome until he comes to full revelation as to what is important. Burt Reynolds and Colm Meaney play characters with the background but not the payoff so they merely become props to formula storytelling. Mary McCormack plays the romantic interest caught between Crowe and Azaria. Despite the hockey action the production features little innovation and can pass only on its small town atmosphere. Advertised as a comedy but plays as an ensemble dramatic Mighty Ducks. Score: 6 / 10

It's a pretty big name cast with Burt Reynolds, Colm Meaney, Russell Crowe, Mike Myers & Hank Azaria.Take a bunch of unknown skaters in a small town in Alaska then throw in the idea their that good they attract the attention of the mighty NHL.Then you have the fight, will the New York Rangers come to the town now they have spent a lot of money? Obviously and eventually they do come to the town and the game is played. With what you might think to be a predictable outcome. But that's totally not the case.The game itself is pretty good even for non-hockey fans, entertaining enough to keep you watching. All the actors play their characters very well, even the normally very annoying Crowe.Worth a look, even if your not a hockey fan, it's a decent feel good sports movie and you can root for the underdogs.

I am NOT a sports fan.I saw this film in the theater.Saw it for Russell of course.LOVE THIS HAIR CUT IN THIS. A BIG SMILE HERE :) A good film.Cast pretty good. Too much on side stories on minor characters. Stevie & the girl. Who cares? Mayors wife following around. Yeah, and?Mike Myers cameo character had the best line in the film, I just love it."They're done like dinner." I always laugh at that one."The Partirdge Family" get mentioned. Good.Liked the Sarah character hitting the cheating guy in the head with the shovel. He deserved it!! Not the best film ever made, but enjoyable.Russell, as always, did a great job.

This movie is easy to bash because of its "underdog" formula, but this is one of the better spins I've ever seen put on it.Mystery, Alaska is a small, ice-covered town that no one would ever have heard of were it not for former resident Charles Danner's (Hank Azaria) article on the "Saturday game" of hockey that has become a ritual in the town. Danner sings the town's hockey praises, likening their skating ability to that of "any team in the NHL," and the gods of fiction hear the call, arranging for an exhibition game between the New York Rangers and the Mystery players. This sets off storms of conflict and multiple subplots which give this film a depth normally not found in the genre. The hockey game itself is almost an afterthought, because while the players know how to play the game, they don't have the same mastery over their daily lives.John Biebe (Russell Crowe) is the town sheriff and involuntarily-retired player from the Saturday game who is called upon to return to the team as their coach and as a player. His wife, Donna (Mary McCormack), is proud of the life she has built and slightly wistful about what the rest of the world would have held for her, but is content with what she has and does not live with her head in the clouds. Burt Reynolds is excellent as town judge Walter Burns, who must grapple with his teenage children, one of each gender, with the boy lacking the ambition Walter has for him, and the girl being a little too ambitious for his taste with her boyfriend. Colm Meany is the town Mayor who must deal with marital conflicts, and the remaining characters are what you'd expect to find in a closely-knit small town.The game itself is more like something out of "The Air Up There" than any of the movies mentioned in the other reviews. In that movie, the Africans played basketball for much the same reason as the Mystery boys play hockey, and as in that movie, the talent pool from the area is rich enough for the pros to take more than a passing look at the players (two of the Mystery players wind up signing with the Rangers and playing for their minor-league outfit in Binghamton).The players' main worry is that they'll get blown out by the Rangers, and shatter their illusions about their talent, but since the game is held on "their pond," where they believe "nobody beats them," they weren't about to back down. The Rangers, at first reluctant opponents who would rather have had some time with their families, get an early wake-up call in the game that causes them to remember why they played hockey in the first place, and take the game as seriously as a Stanley Cup final from then on. It is then that we see that while the Mystery players may lack the polish of the NHL, they are hardly outclassed.As expected, the Zamboni makes a cameo, as does Mike Myers as a former player/announcer. The movie has the usual small-town hostility towards outsiders, including some ribald swipes at a female TV reporter, but throughout the movie, we see what makes this town tick, and how their commitment to hockey is one that every professional player should never lose. Sports may be a business, but in the end, the play is the thing, and this movie makes that point better than many of the better-known films that try to drive home the same point.