"Blades" is surprisingly funny

Rating: 7/10 (9 March 2007)

Will Ferrell and John Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as figure skating partners. Sounds like a bad SNL skit? Right? I wasn't expecting much from this comedy whose trailers looked dull and uninspired. It seemed sure to bore. So when I sat down in the theater, I went in prepared to hate this movie. But then the credits began to roll, I was pleasantly surprised by the roll of names: William Fichtner, Craig T. Nelson, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett (Gob on Arrested Development), Rob Corddry, Jenna Fischer (The Office), and Romany Malco (The 40 Year Old Virgin). So I knew that even if the movie stunk, it would be fun to see the actors together on the screen. Also surprising was to see that Busy Philipps (Freaks and Geeks) had a role in creating the story.
The story is simple: arch rivals Chazz (Will Ferrell) and Jimmy (Jon Heder) are forced to become figure skating partners after they are banned from competing in singles skating. With the help of their coach Craig T. Nelson--in David Carradine mode--the men try to put aside their differences and compete for gold.
Will Ferrell does another variation on his Ron Burgundy/Ricky Bobby character: clueless egotist full of machismo. But he does it incredibly well and this time adds the wrinkle of being an insatiable sex addict. Not surprisingly, he gets the movie's biggest laughs and successfully carries the movie. Jon Heder is okay. He doesn't get in the way of Ferrell and surprisingly, given his monotone acting, scores a few laughs as a cherubic man-child. Amy Poehler and Will Arnett compliment the movie well with their absurd comic turns as brother and sister skating partners and arch-enemies to Chazz and Jimmy.
The film has a surprisingly light touch and at times feels like a live action feel gooder from Disney. But Ferrell as sex-addled Chazz dispels any notion that Blades is family fare.
The movie is instantly disposable, but very funny. Audiences are gonna enjoy this one.