by Thomas Ferguson

Will Ferrell has kicked it old school. He spent a night at the Roxbury. He’s even been a news anchorman. Now, he plays one half of the first ever all male pairs team in ice skating history. Will he land a triple axle or is he just merely skating on thin ice in his new comedy Blades of Glory?

Ice skating bad boy Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) drives skating fans crazy with his wild and overly sexual routines. Meanwhile, sweet and technically flawless Jimmy MacElroy (Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder) drives judges wild with his precise routines. Both of them are stars on the ice and at the top of their game.

They really hate each other and are not happy when they tie, having to share a gold metal in the biggest competition of both their careers. They fight at the awards ceremony and are stripped of their medals. They are also permanently banned from competing in any other male singles competition.

A few years later, the two rivals are reunited, but trust me, it doesn’t feel so good. They fight on national television, but lucky for them, a former skating coach (Craig T. Nelson) sees that they still have the moves. A loophole in the skating rule books doesn’t stop them from competing as a pair.

The rivals go into training and must learn to get along or else their dreams of getting back on the ice will melt away forever. As they train, they become friends, but not for long. Reigning pairs champions Stranz Van Waldenberg and Fairchild Van Waldenberg (Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) are a brother and sister pair hell-bent on keeping their title by any means necessary. They pimp their younger sister Katie (The Office’s Jenna Fischer), making her flirt with Chazz in an attempt to draw wedge between he and Jimmy, who she is currently dating.

Ferrell is in true form in this odd ball comedy. Joke after joke. All funny and all crazy. These characters are delightfully charming in their own special ways. Heder’s Jimmy is the “straight” man and he plays well opposite Ferrell’s over the top Chazz. The two actors have great chemistry and their ice routines are hilarious.

Real life husband and wife actors (Arnett and Poehler) are funny individually, but are absolutely amazing together. These two should work together more often. The remaining supporting cast was good, but how funny can you be when you are up against Napoleon Dynamite and Ron Burgundy?

The first half of this movie was hysterical, but as with a lot of slap stick comedies, it looses steam towards the end. The final scene is so preposterous and out of left field that it almost ruined the whole movie, but fortunately, it didn’t. It was all good and mostly funny. If you like Ferrell’s style of comedy, I’m sure you will like this one.