Good "empty-calorie" comedy!

Rating: 7/10 (14 April 2007)

Two male figure skaters of distinctly different personalities: Graceful,girlish and innocent Jimmy MacElroy(Jon Heder,who takes comedic physical abuse better than just about anybody!)and boorish,Alpha-MAle and sex-addicted hotshot Chazz Michael Michaels(Will Ferrell,back to his usual,oily,near-improvisational comedic self)have battled each other constantly over the better part of the last decade,finally have their rivalry come to a head in the Olympics,which leads to both skaters being banned from competitive skating for life.
Of course,that can't be the end of story and,sure enough,when alerted to the loophole in the competition rules of the sport,Jimmy seeks to find someone to pair with to compete in pairs figure skating. Of course,he has absolutely no luck finding a female,but bumps into Chazz--now a washed out actor at a "Disney-on-Ice"-style show--and is talked into,by his similarly burned-out mentor(Craig T.Nelson,not-too-gruff),pairing up with his former bitter rival to recapture some of their previous glory.
With super support from the villains of the movie,that being in the form of a brother-sister pairs combo(played with the right amount of sneer by comic aces Will Arnett and Amy Poehler),this film runs with the predictability of a Swiss watch. Ditto that of the sweet potential love interest(a charming and sexy-cute Jenna Fischer)and at least one cameo of the usual suspects of Ferrell-based comedies:Luke Wilson as a sex addiction counselor. Directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck,chartering a story and script by Busy Phillips and John Altschuler,are nearly transparent here,as you the viewer,if you seen any films like this(i.e. Old School,Talledega Nights for examples)coming miles away. For the most part,though,I didn't mind at all.
Unabashedly over-the-top and tailored to fit the stars of the show(particularly Ferrell),this film makes no apologies for being a loud,colorful and vulgar comedy. My summary line comes from my theory that many comedies,particularly ones that are major studio financed and fronted by bankable stars,have a quality similar to empty-calorie or junk food: incredibly tasty,immediately satisfying and utterly lacking of anything of deeper value. Still,films like this are good palate-cleansers,particularly after a winter and fall season of movies where the solid quality lie in mostly dark,searing dramas(examples:Letters from Iwo JIma,Breach) and inventive,sanguinary action movies(example:300). Bottom line: I laughed enough to find this well-worth the viewing experience,and assuming you aren't prejudiced by who or what is in this offering,I suspect many of you will feel the same,too.