by Rick Gagliano

Jan 25, 2000

First of all...I liked it. "Mystery, Alaska" is an attempt to be the "Hoosiers" of ice hockey. It falls short of that, but it does make for an entertaining movie. Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Mary McCormack, Lolita Davidovich, Burt Reynolds, Maury Chaykin, and Colm Meaney are truly entertaining in this film. All the characters seem to come together and play upon each other perfectly. The film flows well and the audience wishes the town of Mystery, Alaska success as they take on the New York Rangers in a ice hockey match. The negative....we have all seen the movies of a small town taking on a bigger opponent in a sports match that will bring glory and true joy to the town and it's inhabitants. What's next? Will we be seeing the small town with a dedicated high school football team take on the Green Bay Packers and win? Probably not, but seeing them beat the Vikings or the Bears...now that's possible. Bottom line...it's a good movie, but the storyline is a bit frozen in time.