Independent Films, Film Profiles

Blades of Glory

Blades of Glory is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder. The movie was released on March 29, 2007 by DreamWorks through Paramount Pictures. It was released on DVD and HD DVD on August 28, 2007 and released on Blu-ray Disc on May 20, 2008.At the 2003 World Winter Sport Games, rival men's singles skaters Chazz Michael Michaels, a skillful skater but raunchy sex addict and Jimmy MacElroy, a talented but girly skater tie for gold and an argument ensues on the awards podium. It quickly develops into a fight. Having disgraced their sport, they both are stripped of their gold medals, and receive a lifetime ban from men's singles competition. Jimmy's billionaire adoptive father Darren MacElroy disowns him and leaves him on the side of the road.Three and a half years later, Jimmy is working at a winter sporting goods store and gets demoted to sorting out the stock when he refuses to listen to a customer telling him her skating boot is too tight. Chazz skates in the kiddie skating show "Grublets on Ice" as the "Evil Wizard", has gained a lot of weight, and gets fired from his job for being in a drunken stupor on stage. Jimmy's stalker Hector tells him of a loophole in the ban: he is banned only from singles skating and can still compete in pair skating or ice dancing. Jimmy contacts his old coach, but is unable to find a female partner. Jimmy's search for a partner leads him to Chazz, and his coach convinces the two of them to join up as a same-sex pairs team, because of a loophole in the regulations (also found by Jimmy's stalker Hector) that fails to state the genders of the pairs and dance team.The reigning U.S. national pairs champions, the brother-sister team of Stranz and Fairchild van Waldenberg, see the new pair as a threat to their dominance and begin to conspire against Chazz and Jimmy. The pair convince their sister Katie to spy on the new team. They always take advantage of her by reminding her of the death of her parents, who were in a car accident while driving young Katie to her ice skating practice. In the process, she becomes acquainted with Jimmy and they develop a relationship. Although Chazz and Jimmy are initially disgusted by each other, they eventually develop a friendship. They compete at the United States Figure Skating Championships and earn a chance to compete at the Winter Sport Games once again, this time as a pairs team.Chazz and Jimmy’s coach informs them that, in order to win, they will need to perform a technique that has never before been performed successfully. The technique, called the Iron Lotus, is an extremely complicated maneuver that Coach developed years ago while he was still training pairs. However, it is also extremely dangerous: the only known attempt of the maneuver took place in North Korea and resulted in the man decapitating the woman with his skate blade. Nonetheless, they decide to attempt it as the coach is convinced that the shortcomings of the Korean attempt was that the physics were off - and two males would be better suited for the move. They then begin to train. Meanwhile, Jimmy and Katie begin a romantic relationship with some help from Chazz and Fairchild. Seeking to exploit this new friendship, Fairchild commands Katie to disrupt the duo by having sex with Chazz, threatening to harm Jimmy physically if Katie does not comply. Katie invites Chazz to her room, where she tries to seduce him. Chazz refuses to have sex with Katie, citing his friendship with Jimmy as the reason, but cannot resist groping her chest. Jimmy witnesses this and is outraged at Chazz's and Katie's betrayals.The next day, Chazz and Jimmy are both kidnapped and restrained, separately, by Stranz and Fairchild, who are determined to prevent the two from competing. Katie gets tired of her siblings and accepts that their parents weren't properly safe while driving. While handcuffing Jimmy in a bathroom, Fairchild reveals that she and Stranz had commanded Katie to have sex with Chazz yet she did not go through with it, to Jimmy's relief. Chazz escapes but is pursued by Stranz through the city of Montreal: the pursuit is on ice (with skates) at first but is then continued through streets and stores. He tries to kill Chazz with a crossbow, but accidentally shoots the Winter Sport Games Mascot Snowflake. Jimmy, who is locked in a men's bathroom, also escapes.Meanwhile, Stranz and Fairchild perform their routine, a dramatization of the "forbidden romance" of JFK and Marilyn Monroe. Both Chazz and Jimmy arrive separately in the ice rink just in time to compete. Chazz and Jimmy reconcile quickly (Chazz telling Jimmy and the entire arena that "Katie is not a whore") and begin their routine, which has a science fiction theme. Fairchild, seeing the two doing extremely well, throws a pearl from her costume onto the ice. Chazz trips over the pearl and breaks his ankle, which renders him unable to perform his role in the Iron Lotus. Jimmy then offers to switch places with him. Although they have never practiced the other's roles (and it took hundreds of tries for Chazz to not decapitate a test dummy), they perform the Iron Lotus perfectly, with Jimmy only cutting off 2 hairs of Chazz. Jimmy and Chazz win the competition, Jimmy reconciles with Katie, and Stranz and Fairchild are arrested due to the kidnappings as well as Stranz shooting the mascot. Stranz and Fairchild begin arguing, then kiss each other incestuously. (Of course, in real life, Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, the actors who play them, are married.) They get the silver medal while Jimmy and Chazz receive the glorious gold and fly off into the sky (literally, through some sort of rockets on their skates). While the credits are rolling, Hector is seen playing with dolls of himself, Jimmy and Chazz.