Ferrell hits the ice, but scores some laughs

Rating: 5/10 (28 March 2007)

Will Ferrell's comedy efforts fall into two categories; he's a gentle, sweet, mousy, befuddled man-child ("Elf," "Bewitched" and, to a certain extent, "Kicking & Screaming"), or he's a loud, drunken, usually half-naked idiotic lout ("Old School," "Anchorman," "Taladega Nights").
His newest film, "Blades of Glory" (a takeoff on the ripe-for-parody world of competitive figure skating), falls firmly into that second category. Ferrell plays Chazz Michael Michaels, a self-confessed sex addict ("I'm attracted to women," he flatly states to counselor Luke Wilson), who is also skating's resident bad boy rebel.
Inebriated, cocky, unshaven and wild, Chazz makes women swoon and somehow convinces enough judges that his eclectic routines are works of art. In the opening scene, he flaunts his sexuality on the ice the way John Travolta did on the dance floor (well, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit), but he does win the gold medal in a Stockholm competition.
But, just in case one thinks this film is just a tankful of Ferrell gas, there's another component  the kind and gentle Jimmy MacLeroy (Jon Heder, "Napoleon Dynamite," "Benchwarmers," "School For Scoundrels"), who was adopted by a ruthless billionaire (William Fitchner, "Crash," "The Longest Yard") and turned into a skating Ivan Drago.
He, too earns enough points to claim a gold medal, but when the two are on the awards stand, they begin fighting, causing former "Knightrider" and "St. Elsewhere" veteran, William Daniels, to strip them of their medals and ban them from competing for life.
Fortunately, a weird stalker finds a loophole in the banishment  while they cannot skate individually, they may team up and compete as a pair. Thus, the premise of two males who hate each other dancing about the ice is born. Sports stations and newspapers cannot get enough, but the current pairs' darlings, brother and sister team, Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Arnett and SNL's Amy Poehler), have no love for these rebels of the frozen rink, while undercutting their every move.
With disgraced and loopy coach, Craig T. Nelson ("Coach"), putting them through their montage workouts (including attempting to solve the potentially-fatal "Iron Lotus"),this becomes very much like "Dodgeball" with the world championship coming down to these two teams.
And while this is certainly no sophisticated Cary Grant screwball comedy, or a classic Preston Sturges film, or even a Three Stooges laugh-fest, there are enough genuine giggles for me to give it my personal thumbs up. Most of the yucks clearly come from Ferrell's alcoholic stumblings, but Heder has a few nice scenes, too, mostly playing of his character's effeminacy.
Once again, my criteria for comedies is different than my scale for drama. Here, it's the laugh factor. "Blades of Glory" gets some cheap ones with some crude, sexual remarks and situations, but overall, fans of both Ferrell and Heder will no doubt enjoy this one.
Pleasantly surprising, however, was the small but sweet performance of Jimmy's love interest, Katie Van Waldenberg (Jenna Fischer, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," TV series, "The Office"). She adds a new dimension to what could have been a throwaway role.