"Blades Of Glory” (DreamWorks)
Chazz Michaels Is No Reeky Bubby
Any comedy Will Ferrell makes is bound to suffer in comparison to his smash hit “Talladega Nights.” That movie set a high standard for laugh a minute fun. Ferrell’s latest film “Blades of Glory” has some nice moments to chuckle over but nothing to compare with the laugh out loud antics of “Nights.”
In “Blades” Ferrell plays Chazz Michael Michaels, a medal winning ice skater and a sex addict to boot. His main competition is golden maned Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder). When the two men tie for a first place award a fight breaks out between them. This results in a lifetime banishment from the sport.
A few years later MacElroy’s coach (Craig T Nelson) discovers a loophole that will get Jimmy back on the ice. He can do partners skating. Unfortunately the only person he can find to skate partners with him is Chazz. Still the two men try to hold back on their antagonism, and practice to be winners once more.
All of this sounds funny and goofy and it is. At least when they are on the ice. But when the movie tries to give everything a plot it falls apart. The least enjoyable element is a scheme by Jimmy and Chazz’s main rivals Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Durst and Amy Poehler). They coerce their sister Katie (Jenna Fisher) into trying to break up the duo by making them jealous of each other.
Fisher is cute and attractive but the whole “jealousy” thing gets tedious and dull after only a few minutes. It would have been better to give Durst and Poehler more to do. They get way too little screen time. Also worthy of more time on screen is Nick Swardson as “Hector,” a man who stalks Jimmy.
Ferrell has fun with his role but it isn’t his best character. What is really needed is someone of the stature of Sacha Baron Cohen to play opposite him. Heder is okay in his role but he never gives it that extra spark that is so badly needed. You can just imagine what a Cohen or even a Ben Stiller would have done with the part.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and crude humor.
“Blades of Glory” is one of those borderline successes. It has its moments of fun and silliness but it never crosses over into the full lunacy needed for the movie to succeed. Ferrell is a funny man but he and Heder never get the mix right. They needed to make the humor as sharp as the blades of their skates.
I scored “Blades of Glory” a bronze 5 out of 10.
