Review of Blades of Glory (2007) by Chads. — 05 Apr 2007

By making Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) virginal instead of gay, "Blades of Glory" saved itself from being mean-spirited and tasteless; after all, anything that incorporates fashion is inherently gay.

To put it more succinctly, and I'm quoting (paraphrasing), "...it's gay enough," (an on-camera reaction to the pairing of Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy). Inspired, perhaps, by an old SNL sketch featuring Christopher Guest and Martin Short as same-sex synchronized swimmers, this decidedly feminine sport gets the send-up it deserves.

Look at Chazz: classic overcompensation; no horndog lothario chooses figure skating as his occupation. The truth comes out, I think, in the final scene. "Blades of Glory" has a subtext and it's also laugh-out-loud funny.

This is Will Ferrell's best movie since Jon Favreau's "Elf". His ad-libs are all beauts; no duds like, "Help me, Oprah Winfrey! Help me, Tom Cruise!" His reputation as an alleged comic genius is temporarily restored ("Kicking and Screaming" was his nadir).

"Blades of Glory" isn't exactly a model of sophistication; this comedy is decidedly and unabashedly low-brow, however, it's limited use of gross-out humor and overall good-naturedness, sets the movie apart from the theater of comic cruelty, or the theater of comic lewdness (pick one), which both personify most comedies aimed at a mainstream audience.