“Blades of Glory”
**1/2 Old-school slapstick meets newer-school gross-out gags in “Blades of Glory,” a chuckle-worthy if slight comedy about the world’s first male figure-skating pair. Will Ferrell and Jon Heder star as rivals banned from singles skating after a brawl. To return to the only thing they’re good at, they compete as a pair. Craig T. Nelson plays their coach, natch. Rated PG-13, “Blades” is a very silly send-up of Lycra’d lunacy that avoids the thin ice of being an extended joke about men partnering.”Blades” isn’t glorious. It may not even be as funny as the movie it pays fab homage to: “The Cutting Edge.” But then that was a drama. |PG-13|90 minutes |Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“Year of the Dog”
**1/2 In writer Mike White’s directorial debut, Peggy loses her best friend, her beagle, Pencil. What happens after this death in the family is the stuff of bitter comedy and a sweet-strange transformation. Played by Molly Shannon, Peggy teeters on disaster and the possibility of personal peace. Her other best friend is Layla, Regina King doing serious “girlfriend” duty here. Most of the humans here are uncomfortable in their furless skins. There’s pet adoption specialist Newt (Peter Sarsgaard). Laura Dern is fabulous as Peggy’s sister-in-law. Neighbor Al (John C. Reilly) is sort of kind, definitely clueless and possibly the catalyst of Pencil’s demise. What is original about “Year of the Dog” is that there aren’t many American films that take seriously a conversion experience. “The Year of the Dog” might have been amazing. Instead, it’s a dear mutt. |PG-13|95 minutes |Released today|Lisa Kennedy
“Air Guitar Nation”
***The rivalry between C. Diddy and Bjorn Turoque is the main focus of this film, but not the only one, as director Alexandra Lipsitz has fashioned a loopy, loving tribute to the pastime and practitioners of air guitar. He takes us to the World Air Guitar Championships, an event held in Finland since 1997 that somehow had never had a competitor from the land of Chuck Berry and Jimi Hendrix. The Finns take the whole thing pretty seriously, but Lipsitz – and just about everybody involved that isn’t Finnish – knows the inherent goofiness of air guitar. Surprisingly, though, these guys can be pretty charismatic during their 60-second stage spots. |R|82 minutes |Released today|Glenn Whipp, L.A. Daily News
