BLADES OF GLORY [PG-13]
Directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon, who, believe it or not, were nominated for an Oscar for their 1998 short film, Culture, take a great concept for a 5-minute SNL skit — a feuding male/male figure skating pair — and proceed to stuff it into a full-length movie. The result is very hit-or-miss, though the one element that makes it at least worth half-recommending is Will Ferrell (Talladega Nights) as an oxymoronic, badass figure skater ousted for life from competitive skating. Ferrell can do larger-than-life characters life like these in his sleep, but when he is off-screen, time drags. The criminally irritating Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite), as his classically trained new partner, has the greater character arc but is nowhere near as entertaining as watching Ferrell effortlessly chew the scenery while spouting off his improvised non-sequiturs. There is a plot somewhere in the mix by first-timers Craig Cox, Jeff Cox & Busy Philipps, but a coherent narrative is secondary to the comedic set pieces, including a forgettable and unfunny romance between Heder and Jenna Fischer of “The Office.” Ferrell does bring the belly laughs, though, and it is hard to deny that the film is occasionally brutally funny. A stalker played by Nick Swarsdon (Reno 911!: Miami) provides some great dark humor, but he is the only one that can crawl out beneath the fearsome Zamboni machine that is Ferrell’s comedic shadow. –Matt Hoenigsberg