'Blades of Glory' skates for the gold
By Corinne Minard, Staff Writer
April 18, 2007 | 9:30 p.m.
“Blades of Glory” is a completely ridiculous comedy that resembles “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” in its completely unapologetic insanity… and that’s not a bad thing.
The film begins by introducing the two stars of men’s singles figure skating. Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) is the one with the technically perfect performances, while Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell) improvises. With these two clashing styles, they get into a fight in the rink, causing them both to lose their gold medals and become banned from their division of skating. After several years of career standstill, the two find that they can skate again if they compete in pairs skating. Of course, this means that the two must pair up with each other. Naturally, wackiness ensues.
The movie easily fits into the same vein of most Will Ferrell comedies. The same arrogance that filled Ricky Bobby and Ron Burgundy (of “Talladega Nights” and “Anchorman,” respectively) fills Michaels. What separates “Blades of Glory” from these other films is MacElroy. The character’s innocence and earnestness balances out Michaels, saving the movie from feeling like the others. MacElroy’s repetition of “If you can dream it, you can do it” is a far cry from Ricky Bobby’s “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
The heart of the film’s comedy lies in the situations that occur. “Talladega Nights” has the witty, crazy lines, but “Blades of Glory” has the comedic action. Michaels’ drunken performance in an Ice Capades-like show and a chase scene performed in skates – but on land -- are so ridiculous that laughter is inevitable. The number of cameos by actual skaters and their interactions with the characters are amazing. Sasha Cohen’s catching Will Ferrell’s underwear is something no one dreamed would ever occur.
The skating scenes themselves are comedic gold, with MacElroy’s skating full of exaggerated femininity and Michaels’ packed with extreme male arrogance. Their rivals in pair skating, Stranz (Will Arnett) and Fairchild (Amy Poehler) Van Waldenberg, skate in a sexual manner, even though they are brother and sister. Even those who can’t stand to watch figure skating will appreciate the exaggerated (and often obviously digitally created) actions on the ice.
On top of the ridiculous skating choreography, the costumes add to the insanity. Everything from a peacock to ghetto wannabes ends up in costumes that appear on the ice. Instead of leaving the crazy clothes on the ice, the casual clothing of all the characters reflects who they are off the ice, too. The Van Waldenbergs never fail to match. MacElroy wears pink, girly clothing at all times. Michaels looks like he thought the 80s were too good to let go. Scenes that could have been ignored become funny merely because of the clothing the people are wearing.
Though it is not that long, the film becomes a bit tedious at the end. Some scenes drag on and the homophobic jokes do wear on the nerves. Crotch jokes do get old. The middle of the film also flows oddly because Michaels’ and MacElroy’s friendship has no real development. For those who care more about the plot than the comedy, these errors can become quite annoying.
Even with these problems, “Blades of Glory” succeeds in making the audience laugh. Every element from the plot, the dialogue and the costumes are there to incite laughter. The movie celebrates insanity and encourages the audience to do so, too.
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Speakeasy Rating: B
Running Time: 93 minutes
PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, a comic violent image and some drug references.
Movie Genre: Comedy