Blades of Glory (2007) February 15, 2008
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Josh Gordon & Will Speck
Sports comedies usually come in one of two categories: 1) the hapless, rag-tag team of athletic misfits competing in a well-known activity, or; 2) a less popular sport put under the microscope to have its stereotypes magnified for comic effect. Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder has done the first in the Happy Madison produced The Benchwarmers [review], while Anchorman and Elf star Will Ferrell has experience in the second through Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby [review]. Now the two actors are united, taking a type 1 approach to this type 2 story about the lesser known world of male figure skating.
Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) is a fostered child and precision figure skater competing at yet another international competition. His main rival is Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) a confident and brash skater whose routines are all about breaking the rules. When their competitive tension spills over into a fistfight on the awards podium, however, they are both banned from singles skating for life. The only way they can complete is through a skating loophole that would allow them to enter the doubles competition - together. The two sportsmen try to put aside their differences in order to take gold as the only male/male skating pair, but current champions the Van Waldenberg’s have other plans.
Although the character of Chazz Michael Michaels was originally pitched to Ben Stiller, who turned it down because of similarities to his earlier roles (Dodgeball springs to mind), it’s hard to imagine anyone else but Will Ferrell doing it. And it’s not like Ferrell hasn’t walked in these shoes before, the ideals behind this arrogant idiot baring more than a slight reminiscence to Ron Burgundy from Anchorman, or Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights. It probably helps that he has grown to a position of comic authority whereby he can improvise and adapt the dialogue to fit his particular persona and while it would be easy to say that it’s a character which is getting slightly old, I have to admit that I still find the brash and boastful Ferrell roles quite funny.
The movie doesn’t rest entirely on a single pair of shoulders though, as Jon Heder works hard to be the straight-edge counterpart and does an admirable job given his limited experience. Heder’s hesitant and slightly breathless delivery plays well into his unconfident character even though it’s a role that has been written specifically to be less funny than Chazz and over the course of the movie you start to notice which side of the duo is getting most of the jokes. Outside of the two central roles is a whole host of talent in the supporting cast. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler play a skating brother and sister team with a devious streak, while The Office’s Jenna Fischer is their slightly innocent other sibling. Craig T. Nelson takes the always-necessary role of the coach, there’s some overbearing parenting from William Fichtner, plus obligatory bit-parts for Rob Corddry, Andy Richter and poor old Nick Swardson playing yet another peculiar obsessive type. It’s a strong cast and there’s no particular person you can point to for a reason why the film doesn’t quite fulfil in the way it should.
So what is the reason? Well it could be something to do with the rather flimsy story following such an obvious route – it practically plods through the motions towards its none-too-surprising finale, providing nothing more than a backdrop for Ferrell’s overstated brand of in-your-face delivery and a few pokes at the homosexual qualities of figure skating. Or maybe it’s that even though there are laughs to be found, it’s rarely from the situations that are presented by the awkward teaming up of two ex-rivals. Most of the time you’ll be laughing at a Chazz one-liner, or a cheap gag made at the expense of the sport. It’s hard to pin it down, especially when this is not a movie that you could describe as ‘unfunny’.
The film is well guided by first-time feature directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck, who take on the technical ice-dancing sequences just as well as they handle the back and forth dialogue between Chazz and Jimmy. There’s a bit of CGI in play too – some of it unnecessary – which attempts to make it look like the actors are performing all the ice routines themselves. Of course, we know that they aren’t, and I’m surprised that in a Ferrell comedy they haven’t just over-exaggerated that fact for more laughs. Still, the slightly weak story is punctuated by some nice moments (including a rather fun stilted chase on ice skates through a solid-floored sports arena), and packs in its share of gags from what appears to be four separate screenplay contributors.
Blades of Glory has quite a distinct audience, and one that it clearly found given the $118 million domestic gross. If you’re not that into Will Ferrell comedies, maybe check out his straighter role in Marc Foster’s Stranger Than Fiction [review], a better movie than most of the projects Ferrell has been involved in outside of Anchorman. If your opinion is mixed, then give this a go – you might just find that it exceeds your expectations. It’s nowhere near the smartest or most biting sports parody, but there’s something in it, mainly stemming from the cast’s enthusiasm, that stops it from becoming a spineless disaster. A silver medal performance, by all accounts.
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