Blades of Glory

In my opinion Will Ferrell is a fantastic comedic actor. He delivers his lines with perfect comic timing and delightful emotion. While he is generally the same in most movies, he still makes me laugh every time, and Blades of Glory is no exception.

The plot revolves around figure skating, which immediately sets the stage for the comedy. There are two figure skaters, argued to be the best in the world, one really masculine (Will Ferrell) and the other quite feminine (Jon Heder). At the Winter Sport Games they both share top spot, but this causes a fight and they are both banned from figure skating for life. A loophole results in them being allowed to engage in paired skating though, and so they are paired together. This too sets the stage for many funny moments.

The antagonists in this film are the brother and sister skaters who dominated paired skating and conspire against their compatriots to ensure they remain victorious. The climax of this plotline is Will Ferrell and the male half of this duo chasing each other through the venue in their ice skates. Naturally, both Will Ferrell and Jon Heder’s characters manage to get over their disdain and dislike for each other and win the gold medal that they both desperately crave. It’s not the kind of comedy that you have to engage with to understand, and you can definitely dip in and out of it.

As I say, Will Ferrell is brilliant. I am yet to find a film with him in a lead role in which I do not find him immensely funny. Blades of Glory is no exception, and in his role as the more masculine half of the duo he shines. For me he was the stand out actor in this film. He even manages to play a sex addict convincingly without poking insensitive fun at this condition. As expected, he is fully believable in the role he plays: impressive when you consider that he has also played a news anchor, a regressive adult, and an elf, just to name a few. If nothing else, Will Ferrell is the reason to watch this film.

Nevertheless, he is not alone in this film and Jon Heder also shines as Jimmy, the more feminine half of the duo. Throughout much of the film the audience finds itself feeling sorry for Jimmy. Either because he is the better skater, or because he is hopelessly in love, or because that romance doesn’t go as planned, or even because he is chained to a toilet and has to eat toilet paper in order to free himself. Jon Heder manages to make this victim element very convincing and improves the whole dynamic of the relationship between his and Will Ferrell’s characters.

The three van Waldenberg siblings are also a source of hilarity. The obvious sexual tension between Stranz and Fairchild climaxes in an incestuous kiss, which left me slightly stunned. Also, they are both thoroughly dislikable, directly contrasting with the lovely Katie, Jimmy’s love interest. She is the typical little girl who is under family rule until love makes her break out. However, this too is quite funny, and her seduction of Will Ferrell is very funny.

Overall, Blades of Glory is quite good. It’s not the funniest film I’ve ever seen, but it’s not the most ridiculous comedy in the world. It’s an easy going film which deals with a potentially funny sport, and delivers comedy with wonderful ease.