Tuesday, March 27, 2007

What would Brian Boitano do?

Has any out-of-shape actor gotten more career mileage by showing off his out-of-shape body than Will Ferrell? He's like the Harvey Keitel and Dennis Franz of comedy. He must be stopped.

What? A tasteful production photo that doesn't show the guy in a leotard? Yes, and you're welcome. I saw a sneak preview of Blades of Glory, and I laughed (hard) against my better judgment. When quarrelsome men's figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder) are banned from further singles competition, they began their steady fade into anonymity. Then someone discovers a loophole in the rulebook that allows them to continue skating as a pairs team, and the awkward fun begins.

Meanwhile, the darlings of the pairs competition (twin siblings played by married couple Will Arnett and Amy Poehler -- yuck) try to sabotage their new rivals by doing everything but bribing the judges. They enlist their not-famous sister (Jenna Fischer) to spy on training sessions and have the guys quarrel over her.

Consider this a bookend to Zoolander, as the divadom of male modeling is now applied to men's figure skating. The action in the film is fairly impressive, and with good reason: Jamie Sale and David Pelletier were listed among the stunt skaters. And, as you can tell from the ambiguous logo in the photo above, the movie was very careful not to use the word "Olympics" or anything else that directly related to the Olympics.

As a side note, anyone who's ever wanted to see Jenna Fischer wear more revealing clothing than she does on The Office has a very good reason to go. (I have to start watching that show now.)

7 comments:

Ookami Snow said...

I just might have to check the movie out.

K-Lyn said...

The fact that you know who Sale and Pelletier are would also go watch this movie blows my mind.

BTW my word verification begins with eh!

Neel Mehta said...

Ookami Snow: There's so much funny stuff I didn't even mention.

K-lyn: I'm a man of many interests. Well, not really. Have you seen Jamie Sale? Hell yeah, I know who she is. (Couldn't tell you what Pelletier looks like, though.) That's why I threw in the "bribing the judges" comment.

K-Lyn said...

Pelletier - he's the one that would be played by Ryan Phillipe in a movie.

pilgrimchick said...

To me, the film looks ridiculous, as has every single Will Ferrel film I have ever seen advertised. I am sure my expectations in this department will not go unfullfilled.

bdure said...

Funny thing is -- Will Ferrell has run a marathon, and I could barely run a mile at this point.

One of the cutest things I ever saw (via closed-circuit, not in person) was at the Salt Lake Games, just after Sale and Pelletier had been robbed (before they were awarded their own golds). Barenaked Ladies were performing at the medals plaza, and they brought their fellow Canadians on stage.

If you've seen BNL live, you may know they sometimes call someone up from the audience and say "Strum this guitar, five times." Once they get the rhythm down, Ed adds the fretwork, and the strummer is stunned to learn that he/she is playing You Really Got Me. Then Jim and Tyler kick in, and it's REALLY You Really Got Me.

So Ed convinced a confused Jamie Sale to do it. Pelletier grabbed a tambourine and relished the moment. When Sale realized what she was playing, she started BEAMING like you would not believe.

K-Lyn said...

Oh I saw that!

Candians are so cute!