Blades of Glory movie review

One common complaint moviegoers tend to have with sports comedies is that they lack meaning and follow a completely predictable structure. True- but all of that can be easily disregarded if the movie contains the one necessary ingredient to instant, roll on the floor laughing success: Will Ferrell. Having that said, “Blades of Glory” is one of those successes.
“Blades” is a typical Ferrell film. He portrays Chazz Micheal Micheals, a hotheaded and incredibly dimwitted figure skater who, when he’s not rocking the crowd, attends sex addict meetings. Chazz is practically a carbon copy of Ferrell’s 2006 character, Ricky Bobby, champion NASCAR driver from “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.” Both are macho, meathead men who are on top of the world until a ridiculously absurd obstacle obstructs their path to glory. The men spend the remainder of these movies racking their tiny brains, attempting to overcome the obstacle, and eventually, after nonstop antics and wisecracks ensue, they do.
Perhaps this is the perfect formula for Ferrell, for when he strays from it we get disasters like 2005’s sports “comedy,” “Kicking and Screaming.” Ferrell, is most effective when he uses dumb, moronic humor. Take 2004’s hit “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” for example- people love the idiot hero. While he has attempted to tackle more serious roles in movies like Woody Allen’s 2004 “Melinda and Melinda,” Ferrell fails to pull off sincerity as well as other funny guys, like Jim Carey or Robin Williams. It’s just too hard to look at him and not slip out a chuckle.
“Blades” isn’t entirely identical to “Talladega Nights.” For one, it features a co-star: Jon Heder (a.k.a. Napoleon Dynamite). Heder plays Jimmy MacElroy, a very Naploeon-esque, child star skater whose motto is “If you can dream it, you can do it!” Right off the bat, Chazz and Jimmy’s clashing personalities result in a fistfight that eternally bans them from competing. Three years go by and a loophole in the banishment is discovered- while they may be exiled from singles skating, the men can still compete as a pair.
Most of Ferrell’s movies wouldn’t work without a quirky opponent or two, and “Blades” is no exception. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler play the creepy, incestuous Russian brother/sister skate team, Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg. Hell-bent on beating Chazz and Jimmy, they blackmail their sister Katie (“The Office”’s Jenna Fischer) into devastating the newfound camaraderie. Not to worry though, Chazz and Jimmy have a secret move up their puffy spandex sleeves.
Whereas “Talladega Nights” poked fun at rednecks, “Blades” doesn’t hold back on making a few gay jokes here and there (many of the skating positions require awkward face to crotch contact). And as is common with many sports comedies, one super obsessed, psycho fan is thrown into the mix who says things like, “I just wanna cut off your skin and wear it to my birthday.” There’s no doubt about it, “Blades” is destined to be another frequently quoted Ferrell movie. With lines like, “You put the bone in Zamboni,” how can it not be?