Review: Blades of Glory

Two rival Olympic ice skaters are stripped of their gold medals and banned from competing in male singles events forever. Time passes and their lives are reduced to skating in a pseudo-“Ice Capades” and working at the local skate shop. Lucky for our characters, there is a loophole which will allow them to compete in couples skating. Major hilarity ensues.

I literally laughed from the beginning to the end of this movie! In fact, I think I even enjoyed this flick more than ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS. It’s amazing how they can take a somewhat boring sport (that’s just me) and make it hilarious! It’s funny how some comedies work by either just focusing on slapstick or just the comedic dialogue. But BLADES OF GLORY takes both of these elements and makes them work! There were scenes with great physical humor (the Korean Iron Lotus demonstration…I couldn’t breathe) while the dialogue was original throughout and left me anxiously awaiting what Ferrell would say next. This man is gold!

Will Ferrell plays Chazz Michael Michaels…even the name’s funny. I don’t know how this guy does it, as he’s basically played this very same character in two other movies but each time, he manages to make the character original and hilarious. He’s truly a gifted comedic actor.

As for Jon Heder, he seems to be off in the right direction as he chooses parts with the right people. He was funny and…well, quite frankly, he’s very pretty as the boy superstar named Jimmy MacElroy. Unfortunately, every scene he’s in with Ferrell, Ferrell clearly steals the scene. I like Heder, but I think he needs to change it up a bit with future roles as his DYNAMITE persona is starting to lose its magic.

Amy Poehler and Will Arnett play the Van Waldenberg brother and sister skating duo and they were also hilarious! They need to do a movie with just them in it. They totally played off each other and I loved the guilt trip techniques they used on their younger sister. Classic stuff! As much as I liked looking at the younger sister who was played by Jenna Fischer, she was the only character who seemed out of place with everyone else, like she was the only one who was serious, but maybe that’s how the character was written? I just found that it disrupted the flow of comedy.

The film also included a number of independent segments that could work great just on their own. It was like a bunch of mini sketches with the same characters. The ice capades scenes and the sex addicts meeting were both a hoot! I also loved the cameos! I won’t say who, but I’m sure you’ll dig them as well!

If you’re a fan of Will Ferrell’s comedy, you’re gonna love this! I wouldn’t say this was a family film, as it included quite a few discussions about porn, but it was all done in good taste and despite the cheesy ending — which they really didn’t need — the movie was a great laugh all around.

— by Tim
Goernert