For many Will Farrell is an acquired taste.
He doesn’t have a great variety of comic moves.
Too often he trots in his by now familiar grab bag of stuff - the doughy body, blank uncomprehending stare, his uplift of the banal to heroic proportions and complete boneheaded belief in his character’s minimal abilities.
But he is the comic de jour and while Jim Carry is off finding himself, or whatever it is he’s doing nowadays, Farrell is top banana.
His films are frustratingly uneven. While showing himself a fine, subtle actor in ‘Stranger Than Fiction,’ he faltered in ‘Bewitched’ and ‘Melinda and Melinda’ – a Woody Allen opus where he played a pale copy of Woody.
Perhaps it’s because ‘Blades of Glory’ is not written by Farrell but tailored to his talents by others that he is able to land the occasional comic triple axel. Actually, he simply transfers his Ricky Bobby character from the race track to the ice rink.
It was some kind of providence (if not divine) that the producers decided to add Jon Heder (‘Napoleon Dynamite’) as the effeminate spangles and spandex partner to match Farrell’s meathead machismo.
The two bounce off each other (sometimes literally) and carry off a rink full of genuinely funny physical gags. Heder, looking like some kind of deranged, beaver toothed Barry Manilow in his blond bob, shows a lively comic spirit not seen in his previous screen outings.
And there is a tentative love story between Heder and Jenna Fischer (The Office) that is delightfully awkward and sweet.
Both Heder and Farrell have obviously learned to skate but the outlandish routines they perform owe as much to stunt men and CGI as any natural talent they have on skates. They are just cheesy enough to work.
The two stars play Chazz Michael Michaels (Farrell) a sex addicted loner who adds pelvic thrusts to his forward camel sit spins and Jimmy MacElroy (Heder), an orphan who was driven to be a world class skater by his domineering foster father (William Fichtner). The two get into a brawl at the World Championships and are banned from the sport for life.
Skating fans will recognize superstars from the past on the panel that kicks them out as Nancy Kerrigan, Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano and Peggy Fleming. (Pants Farrell to Kerrigan, “Are you an official here because you’re officially giving me a boner?”)
Later they discover that through a loophole they can compete together in the pairs. Most of the moves are designed for a man and a woman so much of the humor comes from these two performing the chichi exploits together. There is a distinct whiff of homophobia in the air but the two carry it off with such lighthearted brio that the schtick remains funny rather than offensive.
Their coach (called Coach) is Coach – Craig T. Nelson.
The evil bad guys are an amorous, verging on incestuous, brother and sister duo (Will Arnett-Amy Poehler) who always come in second and are willing to do anything to unseat our two heroes. The duo perform a gloriously tasteless act based on the supposed relationship of JFK and Marilyn Monroe.
‘Blades of Glory’ is directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck who came over to features from the dark side of commercial production. This is their first film and the direction tends to the clunky (and editing to the awkward). You wish someone with a good sense of comic rhythm and timing had been behind the camera but when the two have enough moxie to leave Farrell and Heder on camera hilariously doin’ their thing you can forgive a lot.
Opens USA March 30 2007. MPAA: Rated PG 13
Your Talkback on this Story