Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language, a comic violent image and some drug references.
Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck
Starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler…
I actually laughed so hard I cried. That hasn’t happened in a long time. This film was “Happy Gilmore” funny (and that would probably be a good film to compare this one to).
The story is about two rival Olympic ice skaters (Ferrell and Heder) who were stripped of their gold medals and permanently banned from men's single competition. But they soon find a loophole that allows them to qualify as a pairs team. The results are hilarious.
Will Farrell is fantastic. To me that is NOT a given. Contrary to popular opinion, I think Will is hit and miss. I loved him in Elf and Stranger Than Fiction, but I didn’t care for him in Talladega Nights and many of his smaller roles. So it was good to see him bring his A-game back in Blades of Glory.
Jon Heder wasn’t bad either. Personally, I think his only good role so far has been Napoleon Dynamite. His other roles have paled in comparison. He just doesn’t have what it takes. When he has guest starred on shows like Saturday Night Live it was almost painful to watch—you could literally follow his eyes across the cue cards like that one kid in your 6th grade class who couldn’t read very well. But somehow he managed to pull off a halfway decent performance for Blades of Glory. I only flinched during a couple of his lines in this movie, compared to The Benchwarmers where his performance would have been rivaled by Sofia Coppola or Chuck Norris.
The casting was very well done… other than Heder, there’s not a bad apple in the barrel.
Any fan of ice skating will love the film as well, enjoying cameos from skaters like Nancy Kerrigan, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, and Peggy Fleming.
Blades of Glory is good for a laugh. Unfortunately it detoured to crude sexual humor enough times that I wouldn’t want my kids seeing it. A true modern day PG-13 rating.
SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
Nope… they should skip this one. I saw this movie on a plane (an edited version) and some of the jokes were way across the line. I can only imagine where the unedited version went.
Side Note:
As said above, we don’t recommend your kids see this film. But on the occasion that they actually have already seen it, you may want to dialogue about the film with them. These questions below may be a help to you.
Conversation Starter
Three Simple Questions (with Answers You May Be Looking for):
- What are some of the messages or themes you observed in this movie?
- How do you suppose we—as serious Christ-followers—should react to this movie?
- How can we move from healthy, Bible-based opinions about this movie to actually living out those opinions?
