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Blades
of Glory
Will
Ferrell's back with yet another farcical sports movie where
he plays an obnoxious buffoon who likes to run around in his
underwear. Not only that, but he's joined by Napoleon Dynamite
himself, Jon Heder, as an androgynous skating prodigy in ridiculous
lycra costumes.
Now I
don't know about you, but if the idea of Ferrell and Heder
running around in a predictable movie, with childlike, stupid
comedy sounds like a good time to you, all I have to say is…
THE LINE STARTS HERE BUDDY.
Blades
of Glory is the story of figure skating poster boy Jimmy
MacElroy (Heder) and his obscenely rough around the edges
rival Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell). Competing with each
other for years, their tumultuous rivalry comes to a furious
head as they have somewhat of a disagreement at the Winter
Sports finals. Banned for life for their little discrepancy
at the gold medal ceremony, Michaels and MacElroy fade into
obscurity and life moves on.
Three
years later, due to an obsessed fan played by Nick Swardson
(The Benchwarmers), MacElroy finds a loophole and realizes
that he was only banned from singles competition and not doubles.
Determined to compete at the championship level again he sets
out to find a partner in time for nationals and he yet again
crosses paths with Michaels. The two come to a crossroads
in their relationship and realize they have to team up to
grab the gold and make history.
And that's
pretty much all you need to know about the story going in.
The rest of the movie is just an all out excuse for Ferrell's
style of Talladega Nights style comedy. It plays out
like most of all these sports cliché comedies, and
you don't really need anything more than that. What you want
out of these comedies is big laughs, funny characters, and
absurd, "What the …" moments, and Blades
of Glory delivers on all.
Ferrell's
Michaels is classic Will Ferrell buffoonery as he stumbles
his way sloppily through this movie. His comedy is sharp and
after a couple of these kinds of movies, he's an old pro and
knows how to work the laughter out of any scene. What Ferrell
always brings to these depressing characters is heart, and
once again he makes the Michaels character disgusting and
at the same time likable and always redeemable. We root for
Michaels because we know he can do it, and we're just waiting
for him to realize it.
Heder
keeps improving. Like I said in my Benchwarmers review
last year, Heder just needs more movies to finally shake the
Napoleon Dynamite-ness to his acting. Sadly, it's not this
film, but he's getting better. This is probably the furthest
he's been from said indie character, and I feel he may be
coming into his own soon.
Either
that, or we'll just have to accept that this is who this guy
is and we either like him or not. As Jimmy MacElroy, Heder
brings a vulnerability and naiveté to the former Tiger
Beat cover boy, and we like him, too. He also creates
a great innocent and proper foil to Ferrell's dirty and crude
characterizations.
The play
between these two really work, and we can believe they really
hate each other. At the same time, when they have to team
up, it's easily believed that, yes, they can be partners and
who knows, maybe even friends. It's because of both Heder
and Ferrell's commitment to these characters that you even
feel it's possible.
A very
strong ensemble rounds out the rest of the cast. Craig T.
Nelson, television's Coach, plays… you guessed
it, The Coach. SNL's Amy Poehler and real life hubby
Will Arnett (Arrested Development's Gob) play the villains
as fierce brother/sister skating competitors, the Van Waldenbergs.
And in what could be a Maxim cover in the making, The Office's
Pam Beasley, Jenna Fischer, plays the good Van Waldenberg
sister, Katie. In a scene with Michaels, she sheds her good
girl image and looks unbelievably hot as she wears sexy lingerie.
James Gunn, you lucky bastard…
Poehler
and Arnett are really good as the Van Waldenbergs, but unfortunately
their characters are somewhat underdeveloped. More time is
spent developing the rivalry between MacElroy and Michaels,
so when they finally introduce the antagonists, it's somewhat
anti-climatic. Fischer plays the romantic lead to Heder and
like Will Ferrell and his love interest in Talladega,
their relationship is developed rather quickly and therefore
carries less weight in the overall value of the movie. Fischer
is good in this movie, but is merely playing a slightly different
version of the quiet and mousy Pam. All the actors do what
they can here, and it's more a problem of script than the
acting itself.
What you
can definitely count on in this movie is big laughs. Blades
of Glory doesn't take itself seriously and it likes to
have fun. The absurdity of two grown men wearing tight costumes
and figure skating with each other in obviously suggestive
ways of course brings the hugest guffaws, and why wouldn't
it? This movie is all about finding the funny wherever it
can, and then amping it up to the highest level.
For a
good time at the movies, Blades of Glory captures the
Gold.
Rating:
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