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.

Day Seven

10am: Arrived at the Arena. Late morning, but continuing difficulties with the internet connection in our hotel.

10:40am: Watched the women’s long program. Good for Kimmie Meissner! Too bad for Emily Hughes. Things were so close, there was less than one point separating them. And if it weren’t for Emily’s fall, she would’ve won by the slightest of margins. I guess it’s true what they say—skating a clean program often is what makes a difference. I’m happy for Kimmie, though; she needed this win after a so-so year after winning the World’s last year.

Oh, I found out my pressing question from this week. Peter Carruthers interviewed Kimmie after it was over, and she explained that it was her teammates from Delaware who were yelling it out. She said it was “our thing.” And it’s “Yeah, you’re hot!”

2pm: Late lunch at a trendy place called Twigs at the River Park Square. I was craving tuna, so I had their sashimi appetizer. Yum-o, as Rachael Ray would say.

7pm: Or there-abouts, since they started late. Watched the men’s long program. Man!

One of the best things about being here is that we’ve seen some amazing skating, live and in person. It’s been such an honor to be here for it. I can say that I saw history being made, and not just once. It’s been an incredible experience. Watching Evan Lysacek skate the program of his life was beyond description. Being so far away, I didn’t know until his interview that he had made a quad-triple combination! But the audience erupted afterwards, and was with him the entire time he was on the ice. I stood up with everyone else, and I’m sure that if I were alone, the tears in my eyes would’ve become weeping. Man!

And poor Johnny Weir, coming in mere third after three National titles. He fell once, and popped two jumps. I hate to say this, but I feel somewhat vindicated. All season, I’ve complained that Johnny hasn’t been true to himself. I believe that, along with the fact that he hasn’t trained like he should this season, is the reason he lost so badly. He even changed his costume to continue the change in his image he tried this season. It didn’t work. I continue to maintain that Johnny needs to be true to himself. This season, not being true to himself has been disastrous.

Yeah Ryan Bradley! He was over the top in his excitement about beating Weir, the National Champion, and coming in second. The audience loved it, though, and so did I. His program was very well choreographed, and loads of fun. He was sexy and charismatic and full of energy. It was a pleasure to watch him explode like he did. We’ve tended to ditch out before the awards, and Ryan was so fun, I felt that we had to stay for it.

I’m really glad we did, because Scott Hamilton and Brian Boitano participated in the ceremony. It was great seeing them. I’m sure that there was a great party going on last night at the Davenport. We’re old ladies, so we went back to the hotel for bed.

So it’s over. All that’s left is the Exhibition. Part of me is sad about that, but I miss my kids and I’m looking forward to seeing them.

I was able to answer another pressing question that came up this week. Figure skating does have a patron saint—Saint Ludwina, who lived in Holland in the fourteenth century.

Day Six

Man, there was some good figure skating today! When I have more time, I intend to verify it (yet another item on my expanding to-research list), but I suspect that most skaters this week have made their personal bests. Like I said yesterday, there must be something in the water here in Spokane. It’s like this little town has spurred the skaters onto excellence. I know this sounds hokey, but I’m honored to have helped out in just a little way.

10am: Arrived at the Arena for the junior men’s free skate. To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed with these guys. Perhaps my expectation of the skating is higher now than it was earlier in the week. I’ll look up their scores later, probably after I get home.

12:50pm: Things were pushed together this week, and the arena is starting to get really crowded. I was barely even able to grab lunch! The pairs free skate was worth the price of admission for the entire week. I’m still amazed at the outcome—these skaters from Michigan that no one has heard of, Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, actually won the whole thing, by the slimmest of margins (.25 of a point). They competed in sectionals this season, and didn’t even win them. And they came in eighth at last year’s Nationals. Absolutely amazing.

I feel bad for Inoue and Baldwin. They fell twice; I thought that one of the falls was during one of their attempted throw quads (which they missed in their short program), but the newspaper stories (“The Spokesman Review”) I read this morning didn’t report that. They did report on something I missed, though, because we hadn’t gotten back in time for it. Vise and Trent, during their warm-up earlier in the evening, successfully accomplished a quad throw Salchow, something that’s never been done before in competition. They attempted it during their long program, but unfortunately wasn’t able to do it. Something in the water!

In between groups, we were treated to the induction of Charles Schultz to the Figure Skating Hall of Fame. (He was a huge supporter of the sport.) Scott Hamilton gave the award to Schultz’s widow. The audience gave him a standing ovation. Man, I love that guy. He’s so brave, and talented, and still cute as heck.

5:30pm: Dinner at the Sawtooth Grille in the mall in downtown Spokane. Adequate food; their calamari was a little rubbery. The fun part about out break was the shuttle trip to and from. We were lucky enough to sit next to a novice pair skater, Casey Sullivan, from Oregon. I think I’ll write it up as an interview at a later time. It was like sitting through a mini-lecture on what it’s like to be a young skater, given by a very articulate young man. On the shuttle trip back, we were entertained by the bus driver. Here’s the joke she told over the intercom:

“If ya get thirsty over there at the Arena, you should be fine; I hear there’s lots of ice.” The entire shuttle groaned, and then, in the spirit of Johnny Carson, she made us laugh, anyway.

7:50pm: Well, that’s not entirely true. For some reason, they started late. But it was worth the wait, and we have some really fun seatmates.

Ice dancing! Great, great skating. Of course, there was no question who’d end up winning. Belbin and Agosto changed their long program! I’m glad, because the long program they’ve been performing all season just wasn’t doing it for them. They got it together in mere weeks, and it was great. I laughed as the scores were read, they were so high. At any rate, I think this program will suit them well as they go into World’s.

As I end, I have a request to ask my readers, if there are any out there. The phrase I heard for the first time on Thursday was used again yesterday. Is it “Dang, you’re hot!” or “Damn, you’re hot!” or “Yeah, you’re hot!” I must know!

I can’t believe that today’s the last two competitions, men and women’s long programs. Man, it should be good!