Fitfully amusing buddy comedy about rival skating champions -- a macho ladies' man (Will Ferrell) and a former child prodigy (Jon Heder) -- banned from the world championships after fighting on the ice, who reluctantly become a team when they learn it's the only way they'll be allowed back to compete, while a jealous brother-sister act (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) attempt to sabotage the duo. Will Speck and Josh Gordon direct the sophomoric proceedings capably, the skating stunts are well handled, the leads are well paired, and there are apt satirical barbs at the skating industry. The pervasive low humor and vulgarity preclude the younger viewers who would most appreciate the humor, even as predictable affirmations of friendship and good sportsmanship eventually prevail. Crude language, crass expressions, mild profanity, a couple of brief nongraphic sexual encounters, innuendo, comic violence and mayhem, including a decapitation, brief comic suggestion of incest and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. (PG-13) 2007
Championship skating gets a fitfully amusing skewing in the latest Will Ferrell vehicle.
The buddy movie "Blades of Glory" (Paramount/DreamWorks) concerns rival champions -- self-proclaimed "sex addict" Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell in comically macho mode) who has a flamboyantly muscular style on the ice, and former child prodigy Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder), who sports a gracefully balletic technique.
The guys get into a fistfight in the arena after a world championship finals competition, and are banned by the skating foundation forever more. But after three years of Chazz laboring in kiddie ice revues (until boozing and womanizing lead to his disgrace and firing), and Jimmy toiling as a hopeless skate salesman, they learn of an unlikely loophole. They can compete again if they're part of a team.
With no suitable female partners available, they are reluctantly persuaded to become the first male-male team, allowing them to do muscular stunts never before attempted. And sure enough, after initial skepticism, they create a sensation, and they even overcome their natural aversion to each other.
Meanwhile, a conniving brother-sister act, Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler), attempt to sabotage the duo, blackmailing their own kid sister, Katie (Jenna Fischer) -- who falls for Jimmy -- into spying on the pair's practice sessions, and later trying to seduce Chazz in order to cause a rift with Jimmy.
Will Speck and Josh Gordon direct the sophomoric proceedings (script courtesy of Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky) capably. On the plus side, the skating stunts are well handled, the talented leads work well together, and there are some decent satirical barbs at the skating industry. (Real-life skating champs Nancy Kerrigan, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming and Sasha Cohen make cameo appearances.) So, too, there are predictable affirmations of friendship and good sportsmanship.
But many of the comic bits could be sharper, and some -- like a stalker character (Nick Swardson) obsessed with Jimmy -- really fall flat. And, above all, the pervasive lowbrow humor and vulgarity preclude the younger viewers who would probably most appreciate the sophomoric, knockabout humor.
The film contains crude language, crass expressions, mild profanity, a couple of brief nongraphic sexual encounters, innuendo, comic violence and mayhem, including a decapitation, brief comic suggestion of incest and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic
merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating,
the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief
synopsis of the movie.
The classifications are as follows:
- A-I -- general patronage;
- A-II -- adults and adolescents;
- A-III -- adults;
- A-IV**
- L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
- O -- morally offensive.
** Discontinued classification. All archived movies that were originally in the A-IV category are now classified as L.