Frozen dunderheads: "Blades of Glory"

You know how I feel about Will Ferrell. He's like one of those hot dog cannons in sports arenas. Used correctly, it's a source of great amusement. Used incorrectly and ... well, it's not pretty.

For "Old School," there's "Kicking and Screaming." For "Anchorman," there's "Superstar." Heck, I didn't think "Talladega Nights" was that funny, but I did find Ferrell's turn in "Melinda and Melinda" midly interesting. In short, a mixed bag, although I usually find Will works best when playing off somebody, not carrying the show all by himself.

"Blades of Glory" walks a line between those two realms. Ferrell tops the bill, but he gets a partner in Napoleon Dynamite, aka Jon Heder. The two play figure skating rivals who are banned from single competition after fighting during an awards ceremony. Ferrell, the bad boy (male Tonya Harding), ends up working a kiddie ice show, while Heder, the goody-two-shoes (male Nancy Kerrigan) gets a job at a skate shop. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. But wait! There's a loophole that would allow the disgraced skaters to compete once again. How? Why, as a pairs team, of course! Let's get zany, shall we?

While the story won't be confused with anything by Mamet, it does allow for some amusing scenes. The movie actually starts off quite well, showing us the polar-opposite backgrounds of Ferrell (Chazz Michael Michaels) and Heder (Jimmy MacElroy). It's really pretty funny, even if Ferrell isn't breaking a sweat. "Out-of-shape, dim and cocky? Yeah, I think I can do that." Still, I found myself laughing at him more as a skater than as a race car driver.

"Blades" also benefits from the bad-guy pair of Will Arnett and Amy Poehler, who are husband and wife in real life and play a brother-sister skating duo here. Their various themes and pampered life were great; I mean, "Stranz and Fairchild Van Waldenberg?" Come on. The downside: Their best performance -- JFK and Marilyn Monroe -- wasn't shown live, but as a recap. Hey, you gotta show that thing in its entirety.

As for the overall satire, the movie seemed to be spot-on most of the time, and including real skating legends was a nice touch. Ferrell-as-sex-addict and Heder-as-neat-freak also made for amusing moments. In the end, this certainly doesn't qualify as comedy gold, but it was entertaining enough that I could watch without wincing at Ferrell in tights. Well, wincing too much.