Blades of Glory film review

certificate_12A

BLADES OF GLORY

If you like Will Ferrell, you'll love Blades of Glory. America's funniest actor takes on the world of ice skating in his latest comedy, and with the current popularity of celebrities on ice, it's well-timed crowd-pleasing stuff.

Ferrell stars as Chazz Michael Michaels, a sex-mad, alcohol-fuelled skating champion who for years has bucked the trend of the preening politeness of his sport and been a bad boy champion. His waistline may barely allow him to fit into a series of increasingly ridiculous costumes, but he can still pull off a triple salchow with the best of them.

His tenure at the top of his sport is rudely interrupted by the arrival of Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite), a golden-haired dance sensation who is Chazz's quiet and thoughtful opposite. The fierce rivalry between the two comes to a head at the 2002 skating championships when an unseemly fight results in both of them being banned for life.

Forced to work as a children's ice entertainer and skate shop assistant respectively, Chazz and Jimmy seem washed up, until Jimmy's number one stalker suggests that they form a pair and dance in the upcoming world championships as a couple. Cue the real reason for the film: countless gags as the first male-male pairing takes to the ice.

With a supporting cast including Craig T Nelson (well cast as their coach obsessed by having his boys perform the notorious 'Iron Lotus'), and Will Arnett and Amy Poehler as the current champs who take plenty of umbrage at the upstarts' arrival on the scene, this is a frequently mindless farce that all of the actors take very seriously indeed. That it succeeds is not only down to the cast, but the frequent laughs to be had watching Ferrell's variety of comedy faces as he is forced into another unlikely position with his new partner.

It may not be Ferrell's funniest work - arguably Elf and Old School are the ones to beat - but it's laugh out loud on several occasions and is a non-taxing antidote to some of Hollywood's current crop of serious films: the level of silliness that runs throughout it will be hard to surpass this year.

Paul Hurley