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Movie Review - Blades of Glory (2007)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Josh Gordon and Will Speck |
| Starring: |
Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Jenna Fischer, and Craig T. Nelson |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for crude and sexual humor, language, a comic violent image and some drug references) |
| Length: |
93 minutes |
| Genre: |
Comedy |
| Tagline: |
Kick Some Ice |
| Studio: |
Dreamworks |
| Website: |
Blades of Glory |
| Release: |
March 30, 2007 |
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PLOT
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In 2002, two rival Olympic ice skaters (Ferrell and Heder) were stripped of their gold medals and
permanently banned from men's single competition. Five years later, however, an obsessed fan (some
unfunny dude whose name I'm not gonna bother to look up) finds a loophole that will allow them to
qualify as a pairs team. Can they put their feud aside and become the first men's pair to qualify
for the Olympics? And can they become more than just a spectacle and go on to win Olympic gold?
A typical Will Ferrell comedy ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Every time somebody asks me if I've seen Blades of Glory yet and I answer in the affirmative,
their natural response, as with any movie, is to ask what I thought of it. The first couple of times
I provided eloquent, astutely hilarious commentary on both the foibles and feats of the film. However,
that approach wore out its welcome pretty quickly, so I soon resorted to a canned response of, "It's
your typical 'Will Ferrell comedy.'"
It's a phrase that's been met with instant recognition and understanding - a nod of the head, a knowing
smirk, and an, "Ah, I gotcha."
It's that simple, folks. With the notable exception of Stranger
than Fiction, Will Ferrell movies typically write their own reviews. Take a review of any
Ferrell comedy, alter the plot summary and cast members, and your work is practically done.
As is the life cycle of most Will Ferrell comedies this ping pongs from moments of laugh-out-loud hilarity
to eye-rolling stupidity to cringe-inducing vulgarity and back again. If you've seen Ferrell try to summon
laughs by being loud, half-naked, and stupid once then you've seen it a thousand times.
Seriously, Ferrell with his shirt off is one of the most repulsive sights Hollywood has going for it.
Ferrell in briefs is another one. What in the world is that weird dented flab of fat on his stomach?
I was exposed to way too much of it and his hairy upper thighs. Your enjoyment of the film will likely
depend on the strength of your gag reflex and your tolerance level for crotch and sex jokes.
There are moments of over-the-top inspiration, as seen in lines such as, "Troubled childhood? If you call
a 9-year-old boy with a 35-year-old girlfriend troubled," and "I could not love a human baby as much as I
love this brush," but the film's main problem is that it stretches about 50 - 60 minutes of solid, funny material
into 90 minutes of film.
As a result, I laughed fairly consistently for the first half of the film (the old video footage of the Iron
Lotus being the main highlight), but as the midpoint arrived, so did the thinning of the humor and the reliance
on slapstick and vulgarity. Once Ferrell is called on to fake cry you know it's time to pack it in and call it
a night.
As for the supporting cast, Jenna Fischer is innocently sexy, and Will Arnett and Amy Poehler are funny as
the brother/sister skating team, but did we really need another comedy that goes for the ol' "let's make the
audience cringe by having a brother and sister turn their strange, repressed feelings into a makeout session"
joke? I would have voted "no." Sorry if you consider that little tidbit a spoiler; I like to look at it as
a warning. The inherent femininity of men's figure skating is rife with comedic potential - the
flamboyant costumes, the elaborate routines - and the movie is at its best when it's capitalizing on that
rather than going the lowest common denominator route.
Overall, I was fairly entertained, especially since I saw it for free, but I certainly wouldn't recommend
spending $8 a pop on it. It's the same Will Ferrell with modified jokes. You know how many comedies with
Will Ferrell as the lead that I've watched more than once? Zero. Blades of Glory looks to proudly
carry that torch.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Johnny likes to go around singing, "SHOT doooooooown in a blades of glory!" to the tune of Jon Bon
Jovi's Blaze of Glory.
- Producer Ben Stiller says, "I think you look at what Will Ferrell does on the ice-skating is all about
attitude. It's much less about technical, I don't even wanna say, 'perfection,' because it's not even that
level. It's more like technical 'ability,' which is, you know, not very high, but not very necessary when you
have that much attitude. It's like attitude-ability. Well, if I've got a lot of attitude, I don't have to
worry about my ability. So for Will Ferrell, to get out on the ice and do his thing and to see him, we call it
the two 'A's,' attitude and ability. And Will's got big-A, little-A. Jon Heder's got, like, little-A, much
bigger-A on the ability. And you put it together, and you get like, a quadruple A."
- As far as Ferrell was concerned, when they approached him for Blades of Glory, they had him at
hello. "Just the premise of two men skating together made me laugh," he admits. "The world of figure skating
just lends itself to all kinds of comic possibilities. I'm surprised no one has ever thought of making a movie
about it before."
- For Heder, two factors were the main draws to signing on to Blades of Glory: acting across from
Ferrell while on top of frozen water. "I thought it would be fun to do something as physical and weird and
fun as ice skating," he says. "I did a little bit of roller skating growing up, but I've only been on ice skates
maybe once or twice. So, I was like, 'All right, this'll be fun, to really get into it and try to skate.' And then,
to get to work with a comedy giant like Will Ferrell in a movie produced by Ben Stiller, well, how could I say no
to that?"
- Dude, you didn't say no to a movie co-starring David Spade and Rob Schneider, so I'm thinking there's not
much you'd actually turn down.
- Lending an air of authenticity to Blades of Glory is former skating champion Scott Hamilton, who is
teamed with commentator Jim Lampley; both play variations on themselves as ringside analysts. Hamilton has been
offered roles in skating movies before, but turned them all down, he says. Blades of Glory, however, was
impossible to resist, he laughs, "Because I get to play a version of myself without having to be myself."
- Watch for several other cameos from people in the skating world and Hollywood.
- Stiller adds, "Will has quite a physique in the film and he really worked at it. You know, he really had the
attitude that he doesn't fit into the costume, the costume fits into him. And by that, he meant, 'Look, I'm gonna
show up. I'm gonna do my workout. I'm gonna be in the shape I'm in. The costume's gonna be in the shape it's in.
I'm gonna slip into it, we'll see what happens.'"
- Johnny instantly recognized the movie's closing credits theme song as being sung by Bo Bice. It actually
rocks!
- Will Ferrell was in Melinda and Melinda with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This one is not for the children. Profanity actually isn't that heavy, with one G-d**n probably being the biggest
offense. Sexual humor and crudity (yes, it's a word), however, are pretty heavy. Ferrell's character is an
alcoholic and an admitted sex addict. As you can imagine, both of those aspects are exploited.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer leads you to believe that this might be safe for the entire family, which is simply not the case.
Other than that, it's fairly representative of what to expect.
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THE GIST
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If you're a huge fan of Will Ferrell and/or Jon Heder and you gladly embrace them delivering the same thing
in just about every performance then you'll have a blast. Otherwise, save this one for a rental when you need
a few cheap laughs on a lazy weekend afternoon. Or evening. Whatever.
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