Fantastic fun

Rating: 8/10 (12 April 2015)

A beautifully acted and directed film that will be hilarious to anyone who has ever watched an Olympic ice dancing competition. One wonders whether it's far from the truth! Will Ferrell is perfect as the hyper-egotistical superstar Chazz Michael Michaels who, rather predictably for a Ferrell film, has a spectacular fall from grace. He's barred from skating for life, for fighting with rival Jimmy McIlroy (Jon Heder), who is also banned. But McIlroy's nutty stalker, Hector (Nick Swardson) finds a loophole, in that Chazz and Jimmy could try becoming a male- male dancing pair. Almost stealing the show are Amy Poehler and Will Arnett as the Van Waldenberg siblings, the hysterically nasty, incestuous rivals to Chazz and Jimmy. They blackmail their Cinderella-style, sweet younger sister Katie (Jenna Fischer) to do all sorts of evil things to Jimmy and Chazz, but Katie instead falls awkwardly in love with Jimmy. Poehler and Arnett are obviously loving their dastardly roles and I don't know how Ferrell and Heder were able to keep straight faces through all of their own ridiculously silly dialogue and routines. All in all, a very good movie.