Review: First Round Down

27th April 2019

Sport is a safe choice for filmmakers. Even if you don’t subscribe to the hype, it doesn’t require any explanation. The Butler Brothers (Mourning Has Broken, 2013; Confusions of an Unmarried Couple, 2007) use Ice Hockey as an anchor for their action “comedy” First Round Down.

We live in a world where sports are greeted with religious fervour and high hopes are pinned on young sports men and women. Sometimes with tragic consequences: I, Tonya (2017); Senna (2010); I am Ali (2014). Now lower your expectations. First Round Down is not really about sport, it is simply shorthand for the “boys will be boys” mentality. Essentially, if you’re good at sports, it is a license to be a dickhead in all areas of your life.

First Round Down equates spectator sports with brutality. Tim Tucker is hard-wired for violence and this reputation is bolstered by others on a regular basis. The blow of a career-ending injury can be softened by turning your abilities towards a life of violent crime. They are after all transferable skills, and heaven forfend you become a (whisper it) pizza delivery guy.

First Round Down was screened at Edmonton International Film Festival, Canada in 2016. The landscape of cinema has since experienced some welcome shifts. Just as western politics has experienced some unwelcome ones. Brushing misogyny, homophobia, and general dickishness off as “just locker room talk” has never been ok, but it is increasingly difficult to laugh it off. It’s the thin end of the wedge.

Trading comedy for excellent camerawork, First Round Down is Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) with all of the humour stripped out. Director of Photography Michael Jari Davidson is one to watch, though most of his work to date has been horror (hard pass for me).

Here’s a brief overview:

Tim Tucker, a pouty Ryan Gosling type played by Dylan Bruce, and his goofy Seth Rogen type sidekick Bobby (Rob Ramsay) get involved in humourless hi-jinx and armed robbery.

Everyone likes to talk about the station wagon in which a lot of teenagers had sex. Tim Tucker and Coach trade profundities second only to the Goss brothers. The scenes involving Tim’s little brother are accompanied by wistful guitar music (A Love Song to the City by Kalle Mattson): see, he’s a good guy really. Gimme a break.

You could start watching First Round Down at 1 hour in, and not miss a thing as far as plot goes. First Round Down is a good excuse to get lost down a rabbit hole of Ice-Hockey-themed films, and there are a lot. Slapshot (1977), Youngblood (1986), Red Army (2014), but Mighty Ducks it is not.

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