Not so glorious!!! (Blades of Glory (DVD))

Member Name: MrTink12

Product:	Blades of Glory (DVD)
Date:	08/05/07 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Short length

Disadvantages: Fails to be funny, not especially entertaining

“Blades of Glory…. is the personification of an average five out of ten flick”



This film is a comedy co-directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck. Blades of Glory was recently released in UK cinemas. Read on to discover why I felt this film was rather lacklustre.


--------What’s it all about?--------
The storyline is certainly straightforward, and totally unrealistic. Rival figure skaters Jimmy MacElroy (John Heder) and Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell) are given the same score at the 2002 World Winter Sport Games. After a public altercation these two competitors are banned from figure skating forever, or are they? Three and a half years later a loophole is discovered – they can compete again, but only if these two enemies team up and become the first male/male figure skating pair in history.


--------My opinion: Is it any good?--------
That main problem with Blades of Glory is that despite being labelled a comedy, it failed to be especially funny. I heard little in the way of laughter in the cinema whilst the film was playing, despite the screening being at least 85% full. Granted there was the odd minor chuckle moment, but such instances were exceptionally limited. The main gags seemed to revolve around how figure skating is not exactly the manliest sport the world has ever known, or crotch touching. There are only so many times you can do similar jokes before they become stale, and if they were not particularly amusing the first time they were used you have a film with significant flaws. Therefore once you have seen the film, you never need to see it again – it will not become funnier on repeat viewings.

Although this film did not overly impress me, it should be respected for at least having a short run time of just 93 minutes. This ensures that Blades of Glory never drags, and the set pieces are short and sweet. It is not surprising that this film received a 12A Certificate, because there was quite a lot of swearing. So if you are a parent and your child wants to see this film, please bear in mind that some inappropriate language for very young children would be heard.

The acting should be awarded an ‘average’ rating. Ferrell just does what he has done many times before by playing an over the top, eccentric character. Unfortunately playing the flabby, spandex wearing, sex addicted, egotistical Chazz is nowhere near Ferrell’s best work. Heder’s does a fairly convincing job playing a character that is a bit weedy and effeminate. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett play Fairchild and Stranz Van Waldenberg, who are a freakishly close sister/brother team who do everything they can to stop Chazz and Jimmy winning. (As a quick side note, I kept thinking Arnett looked uncannily similar to England cricket captain Michael Vaughan). Both actors do well in their roles as the baddies of the picture, and are believable as an odd couple that fail to accept finishing in second place as an option. Jimmy has a love interest in the form of Katie Van Waldenberg who is played by Jenna Fischer. She does reasonably well in her role, but ultimately despite looking great Fischer fails to make either Katie or the romance with Jimmy particularly interesting.


--------Final comments--------
Personally I would not recommend watching Blades of Glory. This film is the personification of an average five out of ten flick. There are so many better comedies already out on DVD or being shown on TV movie channels, that you will not miss much if you avoid this film completely. Nonetheless this type of film always undeservedly does great business at the box office, so there are obviously masses of people who like silly, unfunny, generic films. Thus if you are one of the masses you will feel right at home with Blades of Glory, while the rest of us will find something much more worthwhile to watch.



Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.

Summary: Average pointless film!!!