Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Blades of Glory

Hey, do you like Will Ferrell? I mean do you like the same Will Ferrell character that has appeared over and over again the last 4 years? That’s right the exact same character making the exact same jokes, even though I will admit that many are still funny. If your answer is yes to these questions then I have a movie just for you. Blades of Glory is more Kicking & Screaming than Anchorman but if you are a drug addict that needs your Will fix this is the only game in town. Just prepare yourself for some weak shit.

Lets be clear on one thing, I still believe that Will Ferrell is probably the best comedic actor in movies today. This movie is no different. He provides all the usual but that is the problem at hand. It is the same thing that he did in Talladega Nights, Kicking & Screaming, Anchorman, and Old School but Blades of Glory gets to compete for the bottom slot with Kicking & Screaming. I am still holding out hope that there will be more Stranger Than Fiction in the future and less stock character #1. Besides Will there were plenty of other nice faces to see on the big-screen. Obviously you can’t go wrong when Coach shows up. And there definitely could have been more William Fichtner; he was just wasted in his 5 total minutes. As for the best casting that goes to the Waldenberg siblings, now hopefully Poehler, Arnett, and Fischer can find something better to do with their time. I also can’t forget to mention Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, and Nancy Kerrigan because my enjoyment was completely dependent on bringing legitimacy to the ice skating in this film. And if the Iron Lotus actually existed, the world be a better place to live in.

As for negatives, I hate Jon Heder. He sucks the funny out of comedy. It is such a skill that he should bottle it and sell it on the black market. I could definitely envision situations where that could be useful. You are sitting in a meeting room while someone you despise is giving a presentation and when they go to break the ice with a little humor you open the bottle and not a chuckle is heard. Then the person cracks under the pressure, has a nervous breakdown, you get their position with just a minimal loss of sleep for the rest of your life. In other words don’t cast Jon Heder if you want me to recommend your film. And using ice-skating as the setting for your jokes is weak. It is used just for the easy haha look at how homosexual they are acting moments. Hmm, from soccer to NASCAR to ice-skating so I would guess Will’s next choice will be either competitive fishing or maybe horse jumping.


Well the March release date for Blades of Glory was a correct indication of the amount of quality it would be lacking. I am not ready to say that Will Ferrell has gotten to the point of Adam Sandler but he is definitely journeying on the same path. And that path does not lead to enlightenment; it leads to Mr. Deeds and 50 First Dates. Still it had enough good jokes to not abandon the entire damn thing. There are just better movies to be made and funnier premises to exploit.

5 out of 10

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