Do you like Will Ferrell?

Rating: 6/10 (3 September 2007)

It seems to me that Will Ferrell is working like a factory these days. Movies like this one seem to come out every six months or so. Or maybe that's just how it feels, but after seeing movies like "Anchorman", "Talladega Nights" and others in rather short succession it feels like Ferrell is everywhere. And why not i guess, he does have genuine comedy talent in my opinion.
This movie is about the rivalry of two male figure skaters. One of them, Will Ferrell, is the bad boy of skating. The other, Jon Heder, is a saint-like mamas-boy. After a competition they start to fight, after that they are both banned from male skating forever. Although new ideas soon get them both back on the ice, this time as a team.
The whole figure-skating thing just begs to be turned into a comedy. It's a silly sport (figure-skaters will have to excuse me) and on top of that of course very feminine even for the male skaters. I guess part of the reason why figure skating is considered so feminine is the fact that if you skate you either figure-skate or play hockey... And those things are at very opposite ends of the scale. Anyway, the idea of Ferrell as slating's bad-boy works pretty well. There are quite a few memorable scenes in this movie, most of them happening on or around the ice. It also has quite a few moments of silly comedy that doesn't really go anywhere. But in general the whole set-up works pretty well.
I guess the main thing here is whether you like Will Ferrell or not. If you don't like him, this is bound to become tiresome rather quickly. I think Ferrell is one of the most talented people doing these kinds of movies, so personally i didn't mind. I did like Talladega Nights better though. Still, if you like this brand of comedy (the brand of other Will Ferrell-movies and movies like Dodgeball, 40-year Old Virgin etc.) this will probably keep you entertained. I rate it 6/10.