Carving up some laughs with 'Blades of Glory'

Blades of Glory effectively uses a mixture of absurd farce and subtle comic timing. It also adds just a dash of inspirational athletic triumph, love story calamity, conquest, and a plotline that dares to be simple yet refreshingly … well, existent.

This is more than can be said for the recent Ferrell box office smash, Laughing all the way to the Bank (US Release Title: Talladega Nights: the Legend of Ricky Bobby). In Ricky Bobby, one couldn't help but get the feeling that they had wandered into a Saturday Night Live sketch that has simply gone on for too long. While funny and relatively well cast, Ricky Bobby lacked heart, a brain, and courage (lions and tigers and bears, NAS-CAR!). Lacking a heart and a brain for obvious reasons, and lacking courage not for what it did, but for what it might have done. It took America's fastest growing sport, supported by America's largest consumer market, and danced around the phenomenon's manic motor home right wing culture by tired, worn Jeff Foxworthy redneck teasing. But hey, Foxworthy is the best selling comedian of all time, and why bite the hand that feeds you, right?

Despite Ricky Bobby's huge box office success, there seemed to be something about it that insulted the intelligence of Ferrell's fans. You can't just string together a series of hillbilly gags and call it comedy: then it's just joke telling. It wears thin. There are many who are growing tired of Ferrell's antics, and yearn for the days of Anchorman, which dared to dig its teeth into not only sophomoric gags, but satire, absurdity, comic irony, and inventive storytelling technique.

Blades of Glory is the return of a higher standard. Ferrell has surrounded himself with true comedians, staples of comic genius. This way, he doesn't have to carry the day, but rather play within it.

Jon Heder doesn't do much for the movie, but he doesn't hold it back. He may never play as strong a role as Napoleon Dynamite again, but at least he has shown an ability to play something different and complementary. Office star Jenna Fischer plays "Pam but with makeup" - seeing as this is her first big movie, it's fine to see two similar characters. She plays the quiet, pretty girl well, and it has yet to grow tiresome.

The true strength of this film comes in casting Saturday Night Live's hottest star, Amy Poehler, BC '93, and her husband, Arrested Development star Will Arnett. The pair have a flair for subtlety and commitment to the comedic character that makes for some of the films best moments. It's often more rewarding to watch Arnett in the background than listen to the dialogue.

Equally as important, this movie tries new triple axels on old double lutzes. In other words, who says you can't teach an old dog to do the old tricks in a new way? For example, when Ferrell vomits, as he is wont to do in many of his films and SNL sketches, this time he does it from inside a mascot costume on ice, lending for the same funny result without the grotesque gag reflex. Speaking of mascots, they light one on fire and shoot another in the head; if you can't abuse a mascot for a few laughs, then what can you do?

Note: I made no mention of the brilliance of casting Craig T. Nelson, of series fame for Coach, as. "Coach."

If these descriptions fail to entice you to go see Blades of Glory, perhaps this will: This movie has heart, soul, and effort. It's amusing and bizarrely brilliant, teasing and tugging us along through the playful chaos of world class figure skating … using just the right balance of Will just being Will. B+