Blades of Glory: My Review

Last Saturday was full of figure skating for me, a day I haven’t had since I immersed myself in the sport for eight glorious days in January at the Nationals. I put on my U.S. Figure Skating hoodie sweatshirt, watched some of Worlds, and edited a couple of videos for YouTube. Then I went to a matinee of the new Will Farrell movie, “Blades of Glory.”

Everyone else in the theatre was probably there for Will Farrell and the humor, but I was there for the figure skating. Most of the reviews I’ve read have focused on the humor and on the cast’s performances. “Blades of Glory” is a typical Farrell film, full of crotch and gross-out humor. Of course, not that there’s anything wrong with that, as they say. There’s a place for that, and Farrell is always there for it. I have to admit, that’s not my favorite kind of comedy, but I do laugh at it when I’m expecting it. So I laughed a lot at this movie.

Other reviews also have tended to compliment the rest of the cast, and I agree that they were exceptional. I have never seen “Napoleon Dynamite,” so I was impressed by Jon Heder. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as the brother and sister pairs team who become Farrell and Heder’s nemesis are standouts. One of the funniest parts of the movie is a “chase scene” that starts with speed-skating on a frozen river to Farrell trying to escape Arnett through a lobby. The Entertainment Weekly guy calls it a “riotously clunky chase," and it’s an apt description.

Comedy wise, my other favorite scene was Will Farrell singing “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” into the phone while lying on the floor. There’s one thing that must be said about Farrell, and that he knows how to do comedy.

There have been other reviews about the homoerotic nature of the movie and about figure skating itself. This is definitely not a "pro-gay movie," but the movie makers don't care, so why should anyone else?

But as I said, I wasn’t really there for the comedy, or even for the social commentary; I was there for the figure skating. From previous reports, I had heard that the figure skating in this movie was quite good. I had also heard that many in the figure skating community had gotten behind this movie by appearing in cameos and by participating in the training of the actors. So I came to “Blades of Glory” with medium-to-high expectations.

I’m with the NY Times guy: I’m looking forward to the DVD coming out so I can see exactly how they filmed the figure skating routines. The actors came into their roles requiring a great deal of training to even look comfortable on the ice. Jon Heder said that he thought highly of himself when he was able to make a backward cross-over. Heder also broke an ankle, and almost ended the entire shoot, but he “made a miraculous recovery."

That story reminds me a lot of many stories we hear about actual figure skaters having an injury and coming back from them quickly. Both Heder and Ferrell talk about the respect for figure skaters they gained from making the movie, even though it was a parody and spoofed the sport. (There’s a good video at the MSN site called ‘Blades of Glory’ Inside Look: Training, about the training they went through; I highly recommend searching for it.)

Other reviews talk about the easy target figure skating is for spoof, and it is. Consider this:

Instead of honoring the sport, they poked fun at the sport. Sure, it was in good humor, but it still makes fun of it. And because of this angle, I have more respect for the sport now. When the figure skating stars let the jokes fly, it’s heartwarming because it shows that they aren’t so full of themselves. I don’t discount the athleticism needed to do a triple lutz, but do we really need all that spandex and glitter?

I would agree with that. With the music, and the costumes, and egos, there’s a lot to make fun of. I didn’t see “Blades of Glory” as disrespectful of the sport at all. The skaters who appeared in the movie certainly agreed. Ferrell was worried about their reaction, but he said that they embraced the movie.

So instead of denigrating the sport like many have assumed, “Blades of Glory” actually shows great respect for it. I can point to one sequence that I think supports my position. The two main characters, Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy get into a fight at a major competition, and as a result, get banned from figure skating for life. The panel making the decision consisted of William Daniels (of “St. Elsewhere”) and four real-life figure skaters: Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, and Nancy Kerrigan.

These four represent the past four decades of great figure skaters. Sasha Cohen has a hilarious cameo at the very end of the movie. I see that as a nod to the great figure skaters of our era. I absolutely loved seeing the great Scott Hamilton as a commentator. His presence is fitting, since he can be funny in his skating as well. Some of the best lines of the entire movie belong to him. As Ferrell says, figure skaters know well the campy aspect of their sport. Quite frankly, as a figure skating fan, that’s one of things I love best about it.

For example, the first skating sequence is of McElroy skating a routine as a peacock. When I first saw it, I thought, “He’s being Johnny Weir!” Sure enough, John Heder has said that the inspiration for that costume was Weir’s swan costume from last season. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if his character were based upon Weir, probably one of the highest compliments anyone can pay him.

So in many, if not most, ways, “Blades of Glory,” like the sport it portrays, goes over the top. One reviewer said that this is probably the best figure skating movie ever made. (Which isn’t saying much, I know.) It won’t change the sport, unless it makes it more popular, which God knows we need right now, but it’s a nice diversion and loads of fun.