Blades of Glory

I saw the preview several days ago and figured it was just another case of, "put the funniest parts of the movie in the trailer to hook the public and then be disappointed later", but I was surprised and the comedic cohesion between John H. and Will F.. The dialouge was some of the funniest I've heard in awhile and the physical comedy was timed perfectly. This is not just another mediocre performance from Heder and Will that we have grown accustomed to. This movie really delivers and there were plenty of great cameos. Including Jenna Fisher from the office and even Nancy Carrigan. If you truly have an eye for good comedy, they you'll love this movie. I think it was the best comedy I have seen in awhile.

BLADES OF GLORY seems like a natural follow-up to Will Farrell's TALLADEGA NIGHTS, as its spirit and silliness are sure reminiscent of this wonderful comedy. However, here the setting is ice skating and Jon Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite") is also the co-star.

The film begins with Heder and Farrell tying for the gold medal in the world championship that is obviously supposed to be the Olympics. However, the Olympics are an extremely litigious organization and would have sued the studio for every penny they could get, so the Olympic trademark rings were changed and the word "Olympics" never were uttered in the film. Despite both men winning the men's individual gold, however, they were bitter rivals and began a hilarious fight on the podium--with horribly unexpected results. In retaliation, the men are stripped of their medals and banned from Men's Figure Skating. However, later they learn that this did NOT mean that they could not compete in pairs and they men create the most unusual skating team in history!! Now before you read on, it's very, very important that if you see the film you are the type person who can suspend disbelief. Sure, the moves they make aren't legal, two guys are NOT allowed to skate in pairs skating and the film is chock-full of impossibilities....and don't even get me started on the ending!! The bottom line is that if you are a nit-picking twit, you'll drive yourself crazy making sense of the impossibilities in the movie. My advice is to resist this urge strongly and just sit back and enjoy. The film is hilarious and it's amazing to see Farrell and Heder skate as well as they did (though it's obvious that some CGI was used--believe me, NO ONE could do much of what was done in the film!).

Original and exceptionally silly and stupid, this is a great "turn off your brain and enjoy" sort of film (much like TALLADEGA NIGHTS). While I often like very cerebral films and art films, sometimes I just need a liberal does of stupid and fun and this film fits the bill very nicely.

When I first saw the trailer for this film I didn't think much of it. It looked as if it were just trying to cash in on the popularity of Will Ferrel after the success of Talladega Nights. Well, I was wrong, big time wrong. First off, almost every scene in this film is hilarious and the trailer does it no justice. Don't get me wrong, I love Will Ferrel films for the most part but this one looked like it would be an exception. Instead this film fits perfectly with my taste in comedies like Talladega Nights, Zoolander, Anchorman, Water Boy, Old School and Billy Madison. If you like these kinds of films you will love this film.

In the world of male solo figure skating, two US giants are ahead of the pack. Jimmy MacElroy was raised from a boy with the single goal of being a champion, with the millions of champion-maker Darren MacElroy behind him. Chazz Michael Michaels is the opposite of MacElroy's perfect presentation – a rough and ready man with a sex addiction but yet undeniable talent. The two have battled for years but things come to a head when they share gold medal position. On the podium a fight breaks out between them and the pair are banned for life from the sport. Years later they are both doing nothing but getting by until MacElroy's stalker approaches them with a loophole in the sport rules – they are only banned from single events, not pairs.

Undeniably silly this thing but yet quite pleasing at the same time. We have seen this sort of sports spoof several times over the last few years and the quality has ranged with some highs in Dodgeball but others not totally working as well such as Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Blades of Glory falls more in the latter camp as it is not brilliant but still has fun if you are in the mood. Considering the idea behind it I was rather surprised that it was not constantly off-the-wall material but mostly it had me amused throughout. The plot is straightforward but serviceable. The skating is outrageously silly (although some of the effects do push it) and overblown in a carefree way. The script does have some really good lines but too often I found myself looking for more than the dialogue was giving me.

Ferrell is good in the main role and he works the fact that, ignoring everything else, he is still a very unlikely figure skater. Heder is very much secondary to him because of the differences in the characters but he is good value for what he gets to do. Arnett and Poehler do tend to steal any scene that they are in, while Fischer is an enjoyable addition. Fichtner, Nelson and others fill out the cast well. As with Dodgeball, I enjoyed the commentators and the script does make good sport of them, but I would have liked them to have been more a part of the film than they were.

Overall though, despite it not being the most hilarious or clever thing you'll ever see, it does have plenty of laughs and did consistently amuse me even it did lack that many really good moments.

What can I say? The whole theater laughed during this whole movie. There were a few cheap laughs and some very obvious jokes thrown in, but the delivery was par for the course as far as Farrell is concerned. In other words, if Farrell is your kind of comedic character, you'll love this movie. If, say, Hugh Grant is your idea of a comic character, you'll probably hate this movie. Will Farrell's character was essentially Ron Burgundy on ice skates, which is a great idea. Ron Burgundy was, of course, the embodiment of the so-called "alpha-masculine" persona of the '70s and '80s. - unabashedly proud, sexist, and narcissistic. Put him into a sport that in many peoples' eyes in inherently effeminate and you've got a sure-fire crowd pleaser.

Jon Heder was a little less Napolean Dynamite-ish in this movie. He is still the same innocent, ignorant, nerdy, awkward person as in his debut character. That said, he is a little more image-aware in this character, and as the movie progressed I saw less Napolean Dynamite (a major problem in his career until now, IMO), and I saw more of this "other" character. Heder's character is hard to describe other than to say it is Napolean Dynamite combined with Derek Zoolander - a lovable ignorant narcissist. Put that on ice skates opposite Ron Burgundy the figure skater and you have 93 minutes of great fun.

What really makes this film work is Farrell's willingness to do anything in a movie and Heder's reluctance to do such things. They are polar opposites as far as comedic actors and their comedic emphasis are concerned. But those two personalities really work well to complement each other on screen in this film. 8/10