It’s hard to take anything Amy Poehler says seriously. During a conference call with several members of the collegiate press and I, she listed her goals as achieving world peace, stopping global warming and “building a robot that can create food out of its stomach.” She also admitted to producing her own meth, and that Will Ferrell is actually a robot programmed for comedic gold.
But in between her off-beat jokes and false admissions, the 35-year-old actress and comedian who appears on the small screen every weekend as a regular cast member of “Saturday Night Live” opened up a bit to talk about her new movie, “Blades of Glory,” which hits theaters tomorrow.
The film stars Will Ferrell (“Anchorman,” “Old School”) and John Heder (“Napoleon Dynamite”) as rival figure skaters who are ejected from the sport for fighting. The two find a loophole in the official rules that allows them to return to the ice, but only skating together. The duo team up as the first ever all-male pair. Poehler and real-life husband Will Arnett play a brother and sister pair whose thunder is being stolen by Heder and Ferrell, so the siblings decide to sabotage their competition.
“I was psyched to play this character because it’s fun to play a meanie,” Poehler said. “She wasn’t based on anyone specific, so what I did think about was prima ballerinas and … ice queens, like really rich mothers and also like super villains where you think from the outside they look very together [but on the] inside, they’re kind of like maniacal crazy people.”
The film was exactly what you would expect of a Ferrell movie. In the spirit of “Talladega Nights,” the film is filled with awkward physical comedy and brainless one-liners that Ferrell delivers charismatically. With such a crazy cast, it’s hard to imagine they got any work done.
“There [was] a lot of fierce trash talking on the ice about us like kind of taking each other out and ending each other’s careers,” Poehler said. “What I lack in size, I make up for in a fresh mouth, so I would kind of yell my stuff and then I would skate away and go hide under a chair where no one would find me.”
The cast is rounded out by “Coach” star Craig T. Nelson as none other than the coach, “40 Year Old Virgin’s” Romy Malco as the flamboyant choreographer and a hilarious Nick Swardson as Hector, Heder’s passionate stalker. Figure skating icons Dorothy Hamill, Brian Boitano, Scott Hamilton, Nancy Kerrigan, Peggy Fleming and Sasha Cohen also have creative cameos.
While doubles and computer manipulation were used for some of the fancier tricks, the actors were required to learn to ice skate, something that proved easier for some than others.
“I couldn’t skate at all,” Poehler said. “I was probably the worst skater of the bunch, and my husband Will knew how to skate because he used to play hockey in Canada and stuff. So I was starting from scratch. And even though I can fake [to] look like I’m an ice skater, I probably was the worst.”
Ridiculous costumes and cameos from members of the “frat pack” add to the hilariousness of the film. While it’s easy to see from the trailer, the film isn’t for everybody. If you’re looking for a few cheap laughs and enjoy “frat pack” films like “Old School” and “Anchorman,” then you will love “Blades of Glory.” And while Poehler is now an above average ice skater, you won’t find her on the ice anytime soon.
“My favorite winter sport is curling,” Poehler said. “Because from what I can see I think you can smoke while you participate, and I enjoy any sport where you can sit and yell at the people that are performing and also smoke.”
