01. Sometimes it makes me sad that Will Ferrell spends so much time playing complete idiots in movies when he’s actually a very good actor. But then sometimes he plays those idiots in such a fabulous way that I can’t hate him for making the choices he does. He’s so deliberately melodramatic and over-the-top and while you can’t help but feel hit over the head by his attempts to play the character ironically, it’s pretty much the only way you can play it in a movie like this.
02. John Heder can’t act.
03. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler were pretty much the highlight as the rival pairs skaters. I loved how their routines were fabulous stereotypes of the kinds you find in actual skating, trying to illustrate a story or an abstract concept through movement and lots of glitter. The best line in the entire movie came after they finished the routine where they skated to “Good Vibrations” and Will Arnett said “Not only did we completely disgrace Marky Mark, but we totally let down the Funky Bunch!” I imagine this line was funnier to us than the rest because of our love for Mark Wahlberg, but whatever.
04. I really did not like Jenna Fischer in this. At all. How can she be so good on The Office and so awful in this? I think she’s rather good at the sort of anti-acting she does on TV and not so good at being deliberately schlocky. She was pretty hot in that lingerie scene, though, so I guess that makes up for it.
05. I like how all the architecture they feature when they’re in Montreal is either from Expo ’67 or the 1976 Olympics. This is as lame as showing the CN Tower in order to signify that your story is now taking place in Toronto.
06. Craig T. Nelson as the coach was a real stretch.
07. Loved the backstory of John Heder’s character learning to figure skate while living at an orphanage being run by nuns. LITTLE ORPHAN AWESOME. LKJASDLKJAS.
08. This movie is like Dodgeball in that the jokes are relatively funny the first time round but in retrospect not so much. I can’t see watching this more than once. * stares regretfully at Dodgeball on my DVD shelf * As compared in overall guffaws to something like Talladega Nights, Talladega Nights would win; I didn’t cry during Blades of Glroy the way I did during Talladega Nights.
09. I wish Will Ferrell would stop running around in his underwear in every single film. It’s so completely unnecessary. I know it’s his schtick, but still.
10. I haven’t seen the first two Shrek movies, but we saw the trailer tonight and I’m sort of tempted to see it if only for the Justin Timberlake and JKras content. Wow.