Blades of Glory

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

To see seemingly reg'lar guys utterly stripped of dignity and defense is cruel enough, but crueler still is the laughter that you cannot seem to stop from rupturing your lungs and aorta.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Blissfully silly, triumphantly tasteless and improbably hilarious.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

I'm looking forward to buying Blades of Glory on DVD so I can get my head around the phenomenal skating routines. Obviously, there were wires and lifts and computer-generated effects, but for my money it looked like the lumbering Ferrell and nerdy Heder were Olympic-worthy stylists.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

The blissfully silly Blades of Glory is one of those rare comedies that puts a goofy smile on your face with the premise alone -- and keeps it planted there right until its wacky finale.

Variety John Anderson

This Will Speck-Josh Gordon-directed farce is the triple axel of comedy.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The timing is slack and the jokes repetitive. But, like most Will Ferrell movies, it has enough riotous moments to carry you through the dull stretches.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

It is trim, fast-moving and often quite funny, particularly in the exchanges between Ferrell and Heder -- the former's trademark clueless oafishness meshes nicely with the latter's alternating current of petulance and sweetness.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Fundamentally Blades of Glory works; it's full of laughs both subtle and ridiculous.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Some of the jokes are about skating, others are about whatever random thing happened to pop into Ferrell's head with the cameras rolling, and just about all of it is funny.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Call it "Talladega Ice," and you can be nearly certain whether or not you want to see it.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

You're under the thrall of a new peculiar couple. Both actors appear to be having fun outmaneuvering each other on the ice and onscreen.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

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.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The casting of Ferrell and Heder turns out to be inspired. The direction, by a pair of NYU grads who've only made TV commercials and two short films, is pitch-perfect. And - miraculously - the skating sequences are passably realistic.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Also fun: tiny characters such as Jimmy's surprisingly helpful stalker (Nick Swardson); the film's final moments, which owe more than a little to "Grease"; and the skating costumes, which take their influence from such cultural touchstones as "Tron."

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

The movie is at its funniest and most original when zinging the sometimes pretentious milieu of competitive figure skating. Whatever combination of choreography, camera trickery and special effects were required to render the over-the-top, hyper-real skate numbers, they're executed with wit and ingenuity.

Time Richard Corliss

It has the slapdash air of a movie that was a little more fun to shoot than to watch. To say that Blades is a little sharper than "Kicking and Screaming," but not nearly so smart as the best parts of "Talladega," is like taste-testing a Big Mac against a Whopper and a Wendy's Classic Double.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

Fast, light, frequently funny comedy.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Blades of Glory has funny moves even when its characters can barely move, but the film seldom gets past its one basic laugh: that a real man figure-skating is a contradiction in terms.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

This is Ferrell's movie, and one's tolerance for it will most likely be in direct proportion to one's tolerance for its star's vanity-free fearlessness.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Part of the problem lies in the casting imbalance: Ferrell is so much more adept at this comedy style than Heder.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Dumb with a capital D, Blades of Glory takes its (almost) fleshed-out sketch-comedy idea as far as an ice-skating buddy movie with we're-not-gay jokes and a psycho stalker can go.

TV Guide Ken Fox

While funny enough, it's essentially a one-joke movie.

Slate Dana Stevens

No project involving Ferrell is going to be entirely unfunny, and Blades of Glory does have its moments of loopy ingenuity, even if none of them goes quite far enough.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Ben Stiller produced, and the movie is so reminiscent of "Zoolander" that I wish he had rounded up Owen Wilson and starred in it himself. Farrell and Heder are pretty funny, but they're consistently upstaged by supporting players William Fichtner, Will Arnett, and Amy Poehler.

Empire Nick de Semlyen

Formula rules, as Ferrell applies his schtick to another sport. But there's enough silly spectacle and eye-popping costumes to compensate.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Fans of figuring skating will enjoy much of the silliness, however, because its better moments have fun lampooning all the hoopla that surrounds the sport and there are cameos from the likes of Dorothy Hamill, Nancy Kerrigan, Brian Boitano, Peggy Fleming and Sasha Cohen.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

It's Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, as a rival brother-sister skating team who are a little too intimate for comfort, who seem to be giving it their all. If only the movie had been about them.

LA Weekly Julia Wallace

Blades does capture the obvious eccentricities of the skating world, and is funny up to a point, but by now Ferrell & Co. have the formula for a mild comedy down pat. What they need is a little soul.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The villains, an incestuous brother and sister played by real-life marrieds Amy Poehler and Will Arnett are a hoot. And "Office" honey Jenna Fischer is welcome as Jimmy’s love.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

While I don't think Blades of Glory is exactly homophobic -- it's not mean-spirited enough for that -- there's something a little too cheap and easy about the way it plays up to the ultra-straight guys in its target demographic.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The movie does offer one historical first: Ferrell, who previously appeared with comedian Sacha Baron Cohen ( Borat) in "Talladega Nights," now appears with skater Sasha Cohen (one point).

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

It's funnier than "Wild Hogs," which is about as ringing an endorsement as I'm capable of these days.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The movie's central flaw: it's not funny enough to be worth the price of admission.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Blades of Glory, although mildly amusing, has the dank odor of having gone to the well once too often: Ooh, let's dress up Ferrell like an elf – or an anchorman or a NASCAR driver – and see what happens.

New York Post Kyle Smith

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.