H-E Double Hockey Sticks is a 1999 family comedy film starring Will Friedle and Matthew Lawrence. The film is based (very loosely) on the opera Griffelkinnote by Lukas Foss. The film's title is a common euphemism for the word hell.
Satan (or his top henchwoman, it's a little ambiguous), in the form of Ms. Beelzebub (Rhea Perlman), sends apprentice demon Griffelkin (Friedle) to Earth's surface to steal the soul of a talented young hockey player named Dave Heinrich (Lawrence), who aspires to be the youngest man to ever win the Stanley Cup.
Tropes appearing in the film:
- Affably Evil: Mrs. B is depicted as not all that bad, you know... considering.
- Artistic License – Sports: Takes creative liberties by featuring two fictitious NHL teams in the Delaware Demons and Annapolis Angels. Still, assuming the movie refers to Annapolis, Maryland, those teams would not face each other for the Stanley Cup under the playoffs rules as they existed in 1999 since they would both be placed in the NHL's Eastern Conference (and most likely the same division) due to their geographic proximity. Also, in the real world, one cannot become the youngest player ever to win the Stanley Cup because the record (held by Larry Hillman of the 1955 Red Wings) is 18 years, 2 months and 9 days and the current rules require a player to be at least 18 years old by September 15 to be eligible for the following season.
- Butt-Monkey: Griffelkin's two demon friends Skid and Mark.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Everything in Hell is either red, black, or flaming. Everything.
- Curse Escape Clause: Beating the team that is contracted to win while under contract voids said contract.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Once Dave signed the contract, his soul is essentially guaranteed to belong to Mrs. B, but she then has him put on a different, far worse team so he won't even get what he signed his soul away for, purely out of evil. Not only was this completely unnecessary, as she basically had his soul on a plate, it directly leads to the loophole that allows him to get the cup and keep his soul, leaving her with nothing.
- Evil Is Petty: Mrs. B plays practical jokes on people all the time. Her jokes are often in bad taste, for obvious reasons. Also, in addition to bargaining for peoples' souls, Mrs. B enjoys random (and violent) pranks.
- Exact Words: This is a Faustian movie, so this comes into play when Dave signs his soul for his team to win the cup. Him playing on it when they do win wasn't part of it. So, to screw Dave over some more, Mrs. B has him transferred to the last-ranked team.
- Extreme Doormat: Griffelkin, despite what he is, he's a very upbeat guy. This is part of the reason he doesn't quite fit in "down under".
- Foreign Cuss Word: Well, demonic rather than foreign, but in one point in the movie, Griffelkin is trying hard not to say, as he puts it, "a certain four-letter word." The word is, of course, "good".
- Good Feels Good: Griffelkin finds he likes helping people more than hurting them.
- Heel–Face Turn: Griffelkin as he slowly befriends Dave. At the end of the movie, he quits the underworld altogether to become an Angel.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: At the start of the movie, Griffelkin's ham-fisted efforts to befriend his co-workers is almost painful to watch.
- Jackass Genie: Mrs. B fits the trope perfectly, Griffelkin tries to be one of these.
- Large Ham: Griffelkin and Mrs. B got a chance to show off how hammish she can be, particularly during the final match.
- The Mole: Gabby, aka Gabriella, is actually an angel. She lampshades this by pointing out her name.
- Obviously Evil: Mrs. B, she's clearly up to no good.
- Oracular Head: Marie Antoinette (as a disembodied head) can speak, and usually acts as Mrs. B's secretary. Despite the handicap of having no hands or arms.
- Parodies for Dummies: Soul-Stealing For Idiots, to be precise, courtesy of Gabby.
- Running Gag: The rule book keeps getting thrown at Griff from off screen.
- Shout-Out: Obviously, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Bedazzled among others.
- Spoiled Brat: Lewis, at first.
- The Vamp: Mrs. B What else could Satan's top henchwoman be?
- Victimized Bystander: The audience member that gets shrunk to the size of a toddler by Mrs. B. His crime? Defending his wife when she asked Mrs. B to sit down.
