Will Ferrell's latest haphazard treat, BLADES OF GLORY, is a farce set in the world of competitive figure skating. The film is quick, painless, and more than a little brave: not since John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the aerobicizers in PERFECT has so much Lycra been so abused for our pleasure. (...) And the fact that skaters Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Nancy Kerrigan, Sasha Cohen, and Brian Boitano have cameos and that Scott Hamilton commentates on the movie's absurd routines with his usual melodrama feels like a show of support.

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You know those one-joke SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE sketches that start to age after six minutes? BLADES OF GLORY is one joke that lasts 93 minutes, costs $11 and could involve sitting next to a guy who retells the movie into his cellphone. (...) The Ferrell character is supposed to be a butch rocker, but the script can't resist throwing a lot of girly and gay stuff his way.

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What are two hockey pucks doing in a film about figure skating? Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as rivals-turned-partners in BLADES OF GLORY, a movie that was a hit as soon as the posters went up. Ferrell in a body stocking. Heder in a bleached-blond hairdo the likes of which haven't been seen since THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW. There may be an overabundance of pain jokes, crotch jokes and painful crotch jokes, but at the end of the program, this Will Speck-Josh Gordon-directed farce is the triple axel of comedy. Even if the heroes do fall down a lot. (...) Production qualities are first-rate, and the costumes by Julie Weiss are informed by a knowledge of how ostentatious skaters' outfits really are - her work is all the more hilarious for it. Again, the very idea of Will Ferrell on figure skates was a high-scoring concept before it ever left the pitch meeting. Don't expect much, except laughs.

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Originality: One point. This is another ''frat pack'' production, with Ben Stiller as producer and buddy Will Ferrell carrying the comic load. What Ferrell has previously done for the subcultures of soccer (...), NASCAR racing (...) and local television news (...) is recycled here: The macho swagger, the dunderhead misunderstandings and the displays of his flabby physique.

Execution: One point. Two directors and four screenwriters worked to stretch what is essentially a Saturday Night Live sketch into a full-lenghth feature movie. Most of the time, they've left it up to the stars to high-shtick their way through predictable exchanges, and here, as usual, Ferrell works overtime to fill a script vacuum with his usual mugging. Why complain?

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BLADES OF GLORY is sporadically funny, although the very idea is most of the joke: this is one of those films you can figure out from the trailer. It gest most of its comic zest from Ferrell. His brand of wise-eyed stupidity and straight-ahead outrageousness has been built into the script, so that everyone gets a chance at lines that are designed to contain bizarre ideas within gaudy constructions. (...) Chazz (Ferrell's character) is a macho-man figure skater who wears a cowboy hat, licks the face of women in the audience, and fires imaginary guns at the judges. (...) This is a figure not very familiar in figure skating, but well known in the Ferrell gallery. He's Ron Burgundy on ice; Ricky Bobby in Spandex. BLADES OF GLORY pokes some gentle fun at the sport, but it's most a showcase, and Ferrell makes it fresh by being on skates this time.

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