Blades of Glory

B-

Blades of Glory
Rated PG-13; Directed by Josh Gordon & Will Speck; Starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Jenna Fischer, Craig T. Roberts, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, William Fichtner

Will Ferrell takes on another sport in the ridiculous and silly Blades of Glory.  Of course, did anyone expect a movie about two male figure skaters forced to pair up on the ice to be anything but ridiculous and silly? Especially if it stars Will Ferrell?

Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) is “sex on ice,” a figure skater with attitude, and determined to win the gold medal for men’s figure skating. The only challenge he has is Jimmy MacElroy (Heder), a golden-haired, passionless, and sensitive skater who has devoted his life to winning the gold medal. When the two come to blows during an awards ceremony they find themselves thrown out of men’s figure skating for life.  A few years later they find the only way to return to skating is to become partners in pair skating (no one says this movie is supposed to make sense).

The script offers laughs, and some are real knee-slappers, but the story isn’t strong enough to keep the laughs strong throughout the whole film. The figure skating world offers lots of jokes that the movie takes partial advantage of, and plenty of real skaters make appearances.

Heder and Ferrell are fun, as are Will Arnett and Amy Poehler as their figure-skating foes. Poor Jenna Fischer has the thankless task of being the bland love interest for inexperienced Jimmy.

You know you’re going to get a silly movie when you see that Will Ferrell is playing a figure skater, and that’s what the movie delivers. It even delivers some good laughs. What it doesn’t do is sustain those laughs throughout the movie.