Blades of Glory (2007 film)
2007 American sports-comedy film starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder about rival male figure skaters who form an unlikely pairs team; noted for box-office success and pop-cultural references.
Overview
Blades of Glory is a 2007 American sports comedy that lampoons competitive figure skating through broad physical humor and absurd situations. The film was directed by the duo Josh Gordon and Will Speck and produced by Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and John Jacobs. It centers on two rival male figure skaters who, after being banned from individual competition, exploit a loophole that allows them to return to the ice as a pairs team.
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1 ImageKey contributors and cast
The picture is best known for its leading performances by Will Ferrell and Jon Heder, whose contrasting screen personas drive much of the comedy. The supporting ensemble includes established comedic actors who add character-driven moments and scene-stealing bits. For production details and crew credits see production notes.
Release and box office
Released widely in 2007, the film opened strongly at the North American box office, taking the number-one spot on its opening weekend with an estimated $33,014,202 across thousands of theaters and displacing competing family fare such as Disney releases like Meet the Robinsons. The commercial performance made the movie one of the more successful mid‑budget comedies of that season; for contemporary box-office reporting consult box-office summaries.
Critical reception
Critics offered generally favorable but mixed reviews, praising the physical comedy and chemistry between the leads while noting the film's reliance on broad jokes. Aggregators reflected this mixed consensus, with a positive but not unanimous rating on review platforms—see aggregated scores at Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic for context.
Cultural impact and legacy
Beyond its theatrical run, Blades of Glory has had a modest afterlife in popular culture. Dialogue and audio clips from the film were sampled in contemporary music, most notably appearing in a 2011 track by Jay‑Z and Kanye West, which exposed snippets of the movie to a new audience; details on that musical reference are catalogued at music references. The movie also contributed to a late‑2000s trend of sports comedies built around unlikely partnerships and parodying niche athletic subcultures.
Notable aspects
- Genre blending: uses elements of sports films, buddy comedies and satirical parody.
- Performance-driven comedy: relies heavily on the leads' contrasting styles and physical routines.
- Accessibility: teamed mainstream star power with an accessible premise, aiding box-office appeal.
For readers seeking more detailed credits, behind-the-scenes accounts, and contemporary reviews, the linked resources above provide entry points to primary production information and critical archives.
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AlegsaOnline.com Blades of Glory (2007 film) Leandro Alegsa
URL: https://en.alegsaonline.com/art/12047
Sources
- rottentomatoes.com : "Blades of Glory (2007)"
- metacritic.com : "Blades of Glory"
- boxofficemojo.com : "Blades of Glory (2007) - Box Office Mojo"
- rollingstone.com : "Kanye West and Jay-Z's 'Watch the Throne': A Track-by-Track Breakdown"