# Mystery, Alaska
**Mystery, Alaska** is a 1999 American comedy-drama directed by [Jay Roach](https://www.edgepedia.org/jay-roach), written by [David E. Kelley](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-e-kelley) and Sean O'Byrne, in which the residents of a small fictional Alaskan town play an exhibition hockey game against the [New York Rangers](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-york-rangers) on their local pond.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/fullcredits) It was produced by Hollywood Pictures and distributed through the Hollywood Pictures label, opening wide on October 1, 1999.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | October 1, 1999 (theatrical); released on video in 2000[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) |
| Director / writers | Jay Roach; David E. Kelley and Sean O'Byrne[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/fullcredits) |
| Runtime / rating | 119 minutes; rated R[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61248-MYSTERY-ALASKA?cp=1&pos=4&sid=ad300d96-a103-4cd8-8407-d20e0a21361c&sr=0.5903157) |
| Lead cast | Russell Crowe (John Biebe), Hank Azaria (Charles Danner), Mary McCormack (Donna Biebe), Burt Reynolds (Judge Walter Burns)[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) |
| Budget / box office | $28 million budget; $8,891,623 domestic gross[5](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1999-2/mystery-alaska/) |
| Filming | Canmore and Banff National Park, Alberta; January 26 to April 18, 1998[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/locations/) |
| Critical reception | 36% on the Tomatometer from 80 reviews; 66% audience score[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and premise
The film is set in Mystery, a town of 633 people completely isolated by glaciers and vast snowy mountains, where life revolves around the Saturday Game, a weekly hockey match played on pond ice by local men and attended with what the Disney archive describes as religious devotion.[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) • [7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mystery-alaska-1999) The team is a collection of locals including the town's sheriff, its grocer, a deliveryman, and a high school senior.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska)
The plot turns when Charles Danner ([Hank Azaria](https://www.edgepedia.org/hank-azaria)), a former town resident, writes a [Sports Illustrated](https://www.edgepedia.org/sports-illustrated) article about the players' skill, and a sports network promotes an exhibition game between the local team and the New York Rangers on the town pond before the NHL regular season begins.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mystery-alaska-1999) • [8](https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f7b951da-264c-4d28-8845-f52a857a7504/content) [Russell Crowe](https://www.edgepedia.org/russell-crowe) plays John Biebe, the town sheriff and an aging hockey player; Burt Reynolds plays Judge Walter Burns, a former hockey star skeptical about the matchup.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska) • [9](https://eppc.org/publication/mystery-alaska/)
## Production
David E. Kelley sold the spec script to Disney for $2 million in May 1997, and the film was financed by Disney with a $28 million budget and distributed through the [Hollywood Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-pictures) label.[5](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1999-2/mystery-alaska/) Kelley and O'Byrne had played hockey together at Princeton and continued to play recreationally in the Los Angeles area.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-11-ca-21071-story.html) Howard Baldwin, at the time a part-owner of the [Pittsburgh Penguins](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh-penguins) as well as a movie producer, was a producer on the film.[11](https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-lake-tahoe-event-owes-nod-to-mystery-alaska-movie-321525066) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska)
For the production, a former strip coal mine site near [Canmore, Alberta](https://www.edgepedia.org/canmore-alberta), was turned into the entirely new-built town of Mystery, and the movie was filmed in [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope).[1](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/) Filming took place in Canmore and [Banff National Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/banff-national-park) from January 26 to April 18, 1998.[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/locations/) The set was built on top of a lake, and producer Baldwin called the NHL's ice expert Dan Craig for help because warm chinook winds were melting the ice at a rate of an inch a day.[11](https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-lake-tahoe-event-owes-nod-to-mystery-alaska-movie-321525066)
## Reception
Critics received the film coolly. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 36% Tomatometer from 80 reviews, with the critics consensus reading, "The lack of hockey action and authenticity left critics cold," while audiences rated it 66%.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska) Roger Ebert, the [Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-sun-times) critic and 1975 [Pulitzer Prize](https://www.edgepedia.org/pulitzer-prize) winner for criticism, called it "sweet, pleasant, low-key, inoffensive and unnecessary," a meandering film lacking dramatic tension because no one turns out to be a villain, though he wrote that he found himself rooting for the home team.[7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mystery-alaska-1999) James Bowman, writing in Ethics & Public Policy Center, described it as aspiring to be "the Rocky of hockey" and judged the climactic match stagey and overlong.[9](https://eppc.org/publication/mystery-alaska/) The Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan found the hockey scenes enjoyable but the off-ice material stiff.[12](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-01-ca-17448-story.html) A Los Angeles Times piece by staff writer [Scott Sandell](https://www.edgepedia.org/scott-sandell) took the opposite view of the hockey itself, reporting that the film captures some of the sport's speed and grace.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-11-ca-21071-story.html)
Commercially the film underperformed: against its $28 million budget it grossed $8,891,623 domestically, opening against *Three Kings*, *Drive Me Crazy*, and *The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland*.[5](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1999-2/mystery-alaska/)
## Legacy
The film has an afterlife in real-world hockey. According to NHL.com, the movie helped spark the league's outdoor hockey craze: it led to the idea of playing an outdoor game in a stadium, the NHL has played 30 outdoor games in stadiums since 2003, and the 2021 NHL Outdoors at [Lake Tahoe](https://www.edgepedia.org/lake-tahoe) event was described as the closest thing the league had done to the film.[11](https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-lake-tahoe-event-owes-nod-to-mystery-alaska-movie-321525066) In a 2024 Rotten Tomatoes ranking of hockey movies, *Mystery, Alaska* placed 17th.[13](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/hockey-movies/) The film has never been released on Blu-ray.[14](https://www.razorfine.com/home-video/mystery-alaska/)
## References
1. [Mystery, Alaska (film), D23](https://d23.com/a-to-z/mystery-alaska-film/)
2. [Mystery, Alaska (1999) Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/fullcredits)
3. [Mystery, Alaska, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mystery_alaska)
4. [Mystery, Alaska (1999), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/61248-MYSTERY-ALASKA?cp=1&pos=4&sid=ad300d96-a103-4cd8-8407-d20e0a21361c&sr=0.5903157)
5. [Mystery, Alaska, Bomb Report](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/1999-2/mystery-alaska/)
6. [Mystery, Alaska (1999) Filming & production, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134618/locations/)
7. [Mystery Alaska movie review & film summary, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mystery-alaska-1999)
8. [The Review, University of Delaware, October 15, 1999](https://udspace.udel.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f7b951da-264c-4d28-8845-f52a857a7504/content)
9. [Mystery, Alaska, James Bowman, Ethics & Public Policy Center](https://eppc.org/publication/mystery-alaska/)
10. [Finally, a Movie Gets Hockey (Almost) Right, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-11-ca-21071-story.html)
11. [NHL Lake Tahoe event owes nod to 'Mystery, Alaska', NHL.com](https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-lake-tahoe-event-owes-nod-to-mystery-alaska-movie-321525066)
12. ['Mystery, Alaska' at Its Best When Sticking to the Ice, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-01-ca-17448-story.html)
13. [Best Hockey Movies and TV Ranked by Tomatometer, Rotten Tomatoes](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/hockey-movies/)
14. [Mystery, Alaska, RazorFine Review](https://www.razorfine.com/home-video/mystery-alaska/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films late 1990s › Released in 1999*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license