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Sports comedies always follow the same pattern and are therefore usually extremely predictable, but people don't watch them to see how they end; they watch them to have a good laugh along the way. Blades of Glory resolutely sticks to the tried and tested template but its script and performances are strong enough to provide the desired laughs. Will Ferrell plays another trademark crazy character with an great name in Chazz Michael Michaels ("an ice-devouring sex tornado"), a champion ice skater who has an ongoing rivalry with John Heder's Jimmy MacElroy. After tying for the gold medal at the world championship, a podium punch-up ensues which leads to them being banned from men's - but as it turns out, not pairs' - figure skating. While Ferrell doesn't vary his style much between each broad comedy he does (Stranger than Fiction showed that he has considerable range if given the right material), his 'eccentric' personalities are still really funny, and the often seemingly improvised banter between him and Heder is a consistent highlight. The supporting characters are all generally entertaining too, although it just lacks the inspired lunacy of something like Dodgeball with all its memorable quotes and hilarious slapstick. There were still, however, ample humourous set-pieces and some great lines of dialogue that proved lot of thought had been put into the film.
I thought that there were some elements that seemed underutilised, such as a stalker subplot that disappears after the first act. It would also have been nice for William Fichtner, who plays Jimmy's adoptive father but disowns him when he's stripped of his gold medal in the film's first act, to reappear at the end in some capacity. Nevertheless there weren't many opportunities that were missed (whoever came up with the Jenna Fischer bedroom scene is a genius) and there's a very good rate of gags. Everything comes together very satisfyingly at the end and I thought the choice of music for Chazz and Jimmy's final routine was perfect. Directorial duo Josh Gordon and Will Speck have little past experience but they've come up with a very entertaining crowdpleaser.
The summary
Blades of Glory has plenty of laughs and almost no misfiring jokes. It just lacks a couple of really memorable characters that would push it up towards "comedy classic" status.
