Review of The Cutting Edge (1992) by Stephen M — 11 Apr 2008

It seems funny to give a five star rating to a romantic comedy based around the sports world; but I have to. The fact of the matter is that if you consider all the elements, this is a five star movie.

The sports are well filmed (and not in some dorky way where you can tell that the actors aren't really doing their own skating - clearly they did do some training and are doing some of the skating and when it is time for a pro skater to take over, Glaser makes the cuts artistic and believable) and the skating is beautiful. The cinematography is simple, elegant and, yet, sweeping when it becomes necessary - but it sweeps without intruding.

The script is well executed and the dialogue has a natural and witty air about it. It's a clever story, not over the top with originality but not underwhelming with predictability. There is just enough fighting and just enough romance and how great is it to have the first kiss (SPOILER!) be the last thing you see in the movie. That's finesse.

So let's talk about the real money of the movie... the leads. I don't want to diminish (in any way) the gifts of the supporting players, all of whom are wonderful. Without, though, the considerable talents and undeniable chemistry of Moira Kelly (so beautiful) and D.B. Sweeney (so sexy), there would be no movie. The great thing about Kelly and Sweeney is that they were among the young people of this era that we went to see in the movies - they were major stars without becoming so big that their personalities overrode their ability to disappear into their characters; and that is what they did, movie after movie after movie. I imagine that THE CUTTING EDGE is one of their better known films (respectively) because it came out in theaters during an Olympic year and got a lot of attention; that and it is a very enjoyable and popular movie.

We watch this film at our house a lot.

Interesting to note: the music used in the movie makes a kickin soundtrack but it took several years for them to release a soundtrack because of some problem with the original distributor.

Trivia: In Hollywood, Moira is rumoured to be nicknamed One Take Kelly because of her uncanny ability to get the shot on the first take.