I wasn’t very excited to see Blades of Glory, mostly Wil Ferrell’s been guilty of making some real stinkers in the past few years (Kicking and Screaming comes to mind). He atoned somewhat with Stranger than Fiction last fall, so I decided to give him another chance.

I’m glad I did because Blades of Glory was one of the funniest films I’ve seen in years. Ferrell stars as Chazz Michael Michaels, one of America’s best men’s figure skaters. His arch rival, Jimmy McEhlroy (played by Napoleon Dynamite’s Jon Heder), is another American figure skater. They are exact opposites, with Jimmy being a graceful, technical skater while Chazz is a brash, boorish lout who entertains with sexual innuendo. At a competition in Stockholm, they tie for first and a fight breaks out on the medal podium. They are banned from men’s competition for life.

Chazz winds up skating for an ice show, while Jimmy winds up in a sporting goods store. A stalker tracks down Jimmy and tells him that he can compete again, but only in doubles competition. With the national championships only a month away, he and Chazz are forced to join together to compete.

I’ll say this, their program in the national championships was totally hilarious and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. Unlike most comedies where the trailers online and in the theatres show you all the funny bits, there is plenty not in the trailers this time.