Blades of Glory/Old School [Unrated]/Without a Paddle [3 Discs]

DVD FEATURES:

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Will Ferrell - Chazz Michael Michaels
       Seth Green - Dan Mott
       Luke Wilson - Mitch
       Will Ferrell - Frank "The Tank"
       Jon Heder - Jimmy MacElroy
       Matthew Lillard - Jerry Conlaine
       Will Arnett - Stranz Van Waldenberg
       Dax Shepard - Tom Marshall
       Vince Vaughn - Beanie
       Jeremy Piven - Gordon Pritchard
       Amy Poehler - Fairchild Van Waldenberg
       Ethan Suplee - Elwood
       Abraham Benrubi - Dennis
       Jenna Fischer - Katie Van Waldenberg
       Ellen Pompeo - Nicole
       Craig T. Nelson - Coach

• Director:

  Steven Brill, Josh Gordon, Todd Phillips, Will Speck

• Producer:

  Stuart Cornfeld, Donald De Line, Daniel Goldberg, John L. Jacobs, Joe Medjuck, Todd Phillips, Ben Stiller

• Screen Story:

  Scot Armstrong, Craig Cox, Jeff Cox, Court Crandall, Harris Goldberg, Tom Norsall, Tom Nursall, Busy Philipps, Todd Phillips, Fred Wolf

• Screenwriter:

  John Altschuler, Scot Armstrong, Craig Cox, Jeff Cox, Dave Krinsky, Jay Leggett, Todd Phillips, Mitch Rouse

• Cinematographer:

  Jonathan Brown, Stefan Czapsky, Mark Irwin, Robert Mattigetz

• Composer (Music Score):

  Christophe Beck, Theodore Shapiro

• Musical Arrangement:

  Andrew Kaiser, Kevin Kliesch

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  George Drakoulias, Julianne Jordan, Randall Poster

• Editor:

  Michael Jablow, Debra Neil-Fisher, Richard Pearson, Peck Prior

• Production Designer:

  Perry Andelin Blake, Clark Hunter, Stephen Lineweaver

• Art Director:

  Max Biscoe, Simon Bright, Denise Hudson, Michele Laliberte, Seth Reed

• Co-producer:

  Paul Deason, Colin O'Reilly

• Associate Producer:

  Lara Breay, Patrick Esposito, Lynsey Shmukler Jones, Peter Kohn

REVIEWS:

• If you were looking to feel superior toward a movie in 2004, you had few better choices than Without a Paddle. The trailers were geared toward juvenile humor that ranged in depth from homophobia and animatronic bears to the ever-present fear of being raped by hillbillies. It's not that Without a Paddle doesn't touch on these things, it's that it's not very mean-spirited about them, and is more likeable than it should be for much of its running time. This can be credited to the snappy dialogue by Jay Leggett and Mitch Rouse, who get down a good "guys razzing each other" tone that develops the characters and makes them seem comfortable enough to be real friends. Since the actors are clearly having a good time, it's easier to swallow the ridiculous things that happen to them in the course of a camping trip gone wrong in all the predictable ways. As though to prove Seth Green is the most marketable of the stars, all the truly outrageous things happen to his character, leaving Matthew Lillard and Dax Shepard to look on and guffaw moronically. This gets tiresome, as do a bunch of set pieces that beat a sadly familiar trail. But darn it if a good soundtrack and some watchable chemistry don't push things toward a halfway-decent lowbrow comedy. In a ten-minute cameo as a mountain hermit, Burt Reynolds submits a far livelier performance than his co-starring role in The Dukes of Hazzard the following year. Also nice fun are Abraham Benrubi and Ethan Suplee as a pair of redneck marijuana farmers, with Suplee's performance serving as a template for his moony simpleton on My Name Is Earl. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
• Blades of Glory may well be the Will Ferrell movie for people who don't like Will Ferrell movies. It's hard to believe, since an outlandish sports comedy where the SNL vet plays a slovenly egomaniac probably sounds like the quintessential Ferrell flick. But where movies like Anchorman and Talladega Nights -- and even non-Ferrell sports comedies like Dodgeball -- depend on comedian improvisation, and on scenes in the script that delve into the truly bizarre, Blades of Glory actually sticks fairly rigidly to its story. This has its benefits; Ferrell rarely indulges in his usual uncontrollable rants, and while he may be treading on fairly well-worn territory with his character, it's a persona that works well for him. Likewise, Jon Heder finds success in a role that's quite the opposite of Napoleon Dynamite, playing a dainty and elegant figure skater with a mane of blonde, Leif Garrett-like curls (though you'll catch him slipping into the Dynamite voice here and there, like a suppressed foreign accent). Unfortunately, while these concessions may tone down the elements that don't agree with non-fans of the cast, they also rob the movie of what many viewers are looking for. Co-stars Amy Poehler and Will Arnett are surely capable of extreme hilarity as an uncomfortably close rival brother-sister skating team, but the script provides them little dialogue besides words to further the plot, and we're even cheated out of seeing the entirety of their skating routine as Marilyn Monroe and JFK. The Office's Jenna Fischer is as adorable onscreen as ever, but she's given little opportunity to utilize her great comic timing (though we're offered the consolation prize of seeing her in a bustier). There are plenty of funny moments, most of them dependent on the homoeroticism of male-male pairs skating -- which you can't really claim you didn't see coming. There are also, somewhat surprisingly, a number of skating in-jokes; pretty much every prominent American skater from the past 30 years makes an appearance, and you might notice that the secret, experimental move in Ferrell and Heder's routine is the exact same one from 1992's The Cutting Edge -- though it's much more impressive here, where we're given shady footage of it, previously only being legal in North Korea. In the end, Blades of Glory has what its target audience is looking for, it just doesn't have a lot of it. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide
• {#Blades of Glory} may well be the {$Will Ferrell} movie for people who don't like {$Will Ferrell} movies. It's hard to believe, since an outlandish {\sports comedy} where the {#SNL} vet plays a slovenly egomaniac probably sounds like the quintessential {$Ferrell} flick. But where movies like {#Anchorman} and {#Talladega Nights} -- and even non-{$Ferrell} {\sports comedies} like {#Dodgeball} -- depend on comedian improvisation, and on scenes in the script that delve into the truly bizarre, {#Blades of Glory} actually sticks fairly rigidly to its story. This has its benefits; {$Ferrell} rarely indulges in his usual uncontrollable rants, and while he may be treading on fairly well-worn territory with his character, it's a persona that works well for him. Likewise, {$Jon Heder} finds success in a role that's quite the opposite of {#Napoleon Dynamite}, playing a dainty and elegant figure skater with a mane of blonde, {$Leif Garrett}-like curls (though you'll catch him slipping into the {%Dynamite} voice here and there, like a suppressed foreign accent). Unfortunately, while these concessions may tone down the elements that don't agree with non-fans of the cast, they also rob the movie of what many viewers are looking for. Co-stars {$Amy Poehler} and {$Will Arnett} are surely capable of extreme hilarity as an uncomfortably close rival brother-sister skating team, but the script provides them little dialogue besides words to further the plot, and we're even cheated out of seeing the entirety of their skating routine as {$Marilyn Monroe} and {$JFK}. {#The Office}'s {$Jenna Fischer} is as adorable onscreen as ever, but she's given little opportunity to utilize her great comic timing (though we're offered the consolation prize of seeing her in a bustier). There are plenty of funny moments, most of them dependent on the homoeroticism of male-male pairs skating -- which you can't really claim you didn't see coming. There are also, somewhat surprisingly, a number of skating in-jokes; pretty much every prominent American skater from the past 30 years makes an appearance, and you might notice that the secret, experimental move in {$Ferrell} and {$Heder}'s routine is the exact same one from 1992's {#The Cutting Edge} -- though it's much more impressive here, where we're given shady footage of it, previously only being legal in North Korea. In the end, {#Blades of Glory} has what its target audience is looking for, it just doesn't have a lot of it. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

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