Blades of Glory

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Comedy

After the disappointment that was “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”, I was hoping for much better things from the comic genius that is Will Ferrell. Teaming with “Napoleon Dynamite” Jon Heder and portraying male figure skaters immediately got my attention so Jo and I were excited to watch “Blades of Glory”.

Figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder) are archrivals. They tied for the men’s gold medal at the Winter Olympics, but are both banned for life from men’s figure skating after fighting during the medal ceremony. Three years later, MacElroy has been disowned by his adoptive father while Michaels is a drunk, oversexed buffoon on an ice skating show for kids. Finding a loophole in their lifetime ban, they approach Jimmy’s old coach (Craig T. Nelson) and join the competition as a pairs team. Despite plotting by the top pairs team in the world Stranz (Will Arnett) and Fairchild (Amy Poehler) van Waldenberg, Jimmy and Chazz qualify for the Nationals. Coach is convinced that they must perform the legendary “Iron Lotus” to earn the gold, but can they co-exist long enough to make it?

Though it may seem that Ferrell keeps making sports-based comedies nowadays, “Blades” stands out from the rest of his recent work because of one thing: it’s actually really funny. Heder is in arguably his funniest work since “Napoleon Dynamite” and their contrasting personalities and styles help the comedy in this film. Real-life husband and wife Arnett and Poehler give off all kinds of creepy vibes as Stranz and Fairchild, giving us a good set of villains to root against. As their long-abused sister Katie, Jenna Fischer gets to play somebody a bit different from her secretary role on “The Office”. She’s little more than window dressing here, but it’s still nice to see her outside her sitcom.

Ferrell really works the slobbering, sex addict role to perfection. His initial dance routine and his subsequent appearance at a sex addicts symposium were reminiscent of his previous work on “Saturday Night Live”. Heder plays the effeminate, goody-goody MacElroy well. At least he’s better here than in “The Benchwarmers”, and the contrast between him and Ferrell is very welcome. Of course, this isn’t an intellectual piece by any stretch, yet it is still a funny flick that was good enough to watch on fake DVD on a lazy Friday. Like I told Jo after, this was like watching a sick and twisted version of “The Cutting Edge”, and we still liked it!

So to the future Mrs. Neva Santos, bilhin mo na fake DVD nito! Jo and I thought it was way funnier than “Talladega”, although “Anchorman” and “Old School” are still better in my view.