Films that ham and camp it up normally do one of two things. They are either made up of awkward silences and groans that typically follow after a very bad joke (like in the truly atrocious Epic Movie); or the film’s mindless humor becomes the perfect antidote to the constipated, overly worked mind. We’re happy to say The Blades of Glory is one of the latter rather than the former, thanks to some superb acting by Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction), a great script and some ice skates.

Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder, School for Scoundrel) and Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) are arch-rivals in the figure skating world and get stripped of their gold medals and banned from singles figure skating after their sporting rivalry turns into physical violence. After spending some time in the dumps, against their better judgement, they team up as a male-male pair to give themselves a chance to grab gold and glory.

The story arch is very predictable and it does not take a genius to guess who comes out on top. But that is not what this film is about. It has no shred of pretentiousness or arthouse about it. It is purely a film designed to make you laugh and it passes that test with flying colors. The brilliant set pieces with the visual and verbal gags are all enough to make this film entirely memorable.

What makes this film work is the characterization. Ferrell reprises his role as the clueless egotistical testosterone on legs seen so often in his previous outings, but this time with the twist of being a sex addict (with sex addict counselling meetings and all). He interplays perfectly with Heder, who reprises his Napoleon Dynamite role of being the innocent, naïve geek. Their exchanges are filled with the homoerotic and homosocial, a clash of lifestyle which draws enough gags and jokes to sustain the film for its 93 minutes. And the performance from both those actors are entirely comedic, with special kudos going to Ferrell whose performance reminded us why he is seen as one of Hollywood’s most successful laugh merchants.

This is one of those immensely silly films that will have you laughing from beginning to the genius of an ending— a crescendo of campness, sequins, and grown-up sex addicts finding their feminine side.

You’ll dig this film if you dig: Films like Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story or other Ferrell outings like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.