"They laughed at Louis Armstrong when he said he was gonna go to the moon. Now he's up there, laughing at them."
Yeah, it's not very deep. The humor is slight, with a lot of slapstick and dirty jokes, and little to no characterization. Yet, this politically incorrect sports comedy sprints right out of the gate, with as many quotable lines as Ferrell's "Anchorman" films and laugh-out-loud moments throughout.
Jimmy (Jon Heder) is a skating prodigy adopted by billionaire Macelroy (William Fichtner) who is looking to create a super athlete and claim all the credit. Jimmy ties with figure skating bad boy Chazz (Will Ferrell) at a competition, and the two get into a violent altercation on the winners' podium that gets them barred for life from singles male figure skating. Years later, Jimmy's stalker (Nick Swardson) points out that Jimmy can get back into skating with a partner. Jimmy's fired coach (Craig T. Nelson) sees news footage of Jimmy and Chazz get into another fight and hits on a brilliant plan- team up the two arch-enemies as skating partners and put them into competition against the brother-and-sister team of Stranz (Will Arnett) and Fairchild (Amy Poehler). The two men begin practicing, as Jimmy falls for their competition's put-upon sister Katie (Jenna Fischer), and Chazz must deal with his sex addiction and drinking. It all culminates in a winter sports event in Canada.
Will Ferrell has always made me laugh since his days of "Saturday Night Live." His physicality, his timing, his line delivery- all are flawless here, and he often lifts sub-par material. "Blades of Glory" isn't a Will Ferrell movie per se. Jon Heder is given equal screen time, and is just as funny as the vaguely androgynous Jimmy. He's plays off the oafish Chazz spectacularly, while claiming many moments on his own; he doesn't serve as a background character who must react every time Chazz does something shocking or dumb. Gordon and Speck co-directed this with a lot of silly camera angles and ideas, all perfectly capturing the humor. Stars of the figure skating world make cameos here, and most of them actually deliver their lines well and don't embarrass themselves. While the film makers run out of steam toward the end, it's a hilarious ride getting there, despite the hot and cold special effects, and Fischer just replaying "The Office"'s Pam on the big screen. Nelson is always reliable, and Arnett and Poehler do their best with characters that did in fact need more depth.
All in all, "Blades of Glory" is a very funny stand alone comedy, despite some of its flaws.
"Blades of Glory" is MPAA rated (PG13) for physical violence, mild gore, profanity, some sexual content, strong sexual references, and alcohol use
