Blades of Glory Hits the Mark

Slapsticky Ice Skating Movie Plays to Ferrell and Heder

It's almost second nature to see Will Ferrell in tight clothes or sans clothes. But there's something almost disturbing watching Jon Heder play a male figure skater that blurs gender lines a little too much. Ferrell and Heder team up in the comedy "Blades of Glory," gliding their way across the ice as male figure skaters.

Chazz Michael Michaels, played by Ferrell ("Talladega Nights," "Old School"), is a hip, nymphomaniac figure skater, while Jimmy MacElroy, played by Heder ("Napoleon Dynamite," "The Benchwarmers"), is an orphan raised by a billionaire to become a world-class skating champion.

Heder has been raised to skate and only to skate. Michaels is a rogue in the sport, incorporating a number of hip-thrusting moves into his routines.
The two are on opposite ends of the spectrum, both in and out of the sport. When it comes to plots, that means they have to team up.

The two get into a fight while sharing the medal stand. They're banished from men's singles competition.

Thank goodness for movie loopholes. The two can still compete, but only if they skate as pairs. So they team up and the hilarity happens.
Of course they can't get along, causing numerous fights and disagreements.

From the start, "Blades" is funny. Ferrell and Heder play off each other as a great pair (like insert great figure skating pair here because I don't know any).

The supporting cast is strong, with Craig T. Nelson as the skaters' coach and Will Arnett (TV's "Arrested Development") and Amy Poehler (TV's "Saturday Night Live") as the evil brother-sister-twins pairs team. Arnett does a great job playing Stranz Van Waldenberg, a buffoon much like Arnett's now-defunct TV role Gob.

The over-exaggeration of the film is great. It never takes itself seriously, knowing the audience doesn't expect or want any sort of reality from the film, and they aren't disappointed.

Ferrell and Arnett nail a slapstick chase as the two race after each other through the streets, a shopping mall and up an escalator while wearing ice skates.