Posted on April 2, 2007
“Blades of Glory” is pure fun and laughs from start to finish. Will Ferrell (“Anchorman”) and Jon Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) are meant for each other. When the two of them are on screen, you have no choice but to laugh out loud.
The movie begins with Jimmy MacElroy (played by Jon Heder) and Chazz Michael Michaels (played by Will Ferrell) competing for the national figure-skating championship. Both tied for the gold medal, following an outstanding display of skating, but this sparked a fight on the winner’s stage and included the mascot catching on fire. Following the incident, they were banned from figure skating for life.
Three years down the road, Chazz has become an extreme alcoholic who plays the evil wizard in an ice show for kids, while Jimmy works at a skate shop. After hurting a little girl while tying her laces too tight, he is put back on storage duty. That is when Jimmy’s stalker Hector, played by Nick Swardson (“Reno 911”) tells him that because of a loophole, he is banned from singles but not pairs. Jimmy goes looking for a female skater so he can get his gold medal back. While he’s looking, Jimmy runs into Chazz at the kids’ ice show. Another fight ensues, but they soon realize that they need to work together to get their gold medals back and the pair of Michaels and MacElroy is born.
From then on, Ferrell continues to make the audience laugh with his unique brand of comedy. Heder also does a great job playing the straight comedian next to Ferrell’s explosiveness. When they are together, though, it is absolute perfection.
Ferrell and Heder are the stars of the movie, but that doesn’t mean the humor stops with them. Their rivals in the pairs competition, Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg, played by Will Arnett (“Arrested Development”) and Amy Poehler (“SNL”) steal the show too. Craig T. Nelson (“Coach”) also delivers some great lines while trying to keep Chazz and Jimmy from killing each other in practice.
This movie has tons of jokes, but it also has heart. Some may feel that the movie makes a mockery of figure skating, but it’s really just for fun. Overall this figure-skating comedy is sure to bring tears of joy down every cheek in the theater.
