BLADES OF GLORY

Will Ferrell inhabits yet another ego-inflated, sports-loving letch in first-time feature directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck's fast-paced, often hilarious comedy about a pair of rival figure skaters. Ferrell is Chazz Michael Michaels, a "tsunami of swagger" in the early-Van Halen-era David Lee Roth mold: a womanizer in tight leather pants and long hair, machismo dripping from his every pore. Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder is Jimmy MacElroy, Chazz's effeminate, blonde-coiffed rival who has a thing for lip-gloss and baby-blue outfits. Their rivalry comes to a head at the 2002 World Championships where they tie for the gold medal. A medal-ceremony fracas ensues, the result of which is a lifetime ban for each. After three years of scraping by in menial jobs, the duo discovers a loophole in the figure skating bylaws and decide to do the only thing that will put them back in the game: They join forces as the first male pairs team in history. Many a guffaw-inducing sequence follows, as does a largely ineffective subplot involving a rival pairs team. But Gordon and Speck keep things loose and light, letting Ferrell and Heder's one-liner-laden crossfire carry Blades of Glory past its slight premise and predictable, drawn-out finale. This blissfully ludicrous comedy doesn't pretend to be anything more than a good time. And that it is. Grade: B