Of Ice And Men

So in other words, the time is ripe for a little levity on the subject. But comedy in this arena is a tricky business. Just ask the folks at Masterfoods USA who pulled the Snickers Super Bowl ad after gay rights groups complained (though the ad quickly became a hit on YouTube). In the ad, two mechanics accidentally kiss while rapturously eating a candy bar, then, mortified, rip out their chest hair to prove their manliness.

"Humor," Masterfoods USA spokeswoman Alice Nathanson said, "is subjective."

"Blades of Glory" largely works by lampooning the whole manly/nonmanly thing as utterly irrelevant. Brothers Jeff and Craig Cox, who were the screenwriters along with John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, came up with the story four years ago after watching a figure skating routine on TV. They said they rooted the comedy in the characters and deliberately avoided making either one gay. In fact, they modeled the dynamic between Michaels and MacElroy on their own childhood sibling rivalry.

"Jimmy is like the younger brother to Chazz just like I am to Jeff," said Craig Cox, 27. Jeff is 30. "Their arguments are very immature ... like a 12-year-old and a 9-year-old would have."

There is a moment in the film after Michaels and MacElroy team up when their sexual orientation is questioned. It's addressed with quick man-on-the-street interviews. A vendor holds up a hot dog bun with two hot dogs nestled side by side. "Does that look right to you?" he asks. A slightly built figure skater says: "As if figure skating wasn't gay enough already!" When the men take the ice as a pair for the first time, a wolf whistle floats over the crowd. Audience members look puzzled. Then the skaters land several incredibly difficult moves, which although suggestive, demand serious ability. The crowd cheers.

"They are athletes first and foremost," said Ferrell. "And yet they do allow themselves, in the middle of these competitions, to step back and go, 'Wow. This is weird. What are we doing?' And then they step right back into it and go, 'Wait, there's a big spin coming up. I love skating!' "

It's their drive to win that ultimately overshadows all the other issues, a passion so consuming that they'll endure the humiliation of performing together.

"They're classic rivals and really don't like each other," said Josh Gordon, who directed the film with Will Speck. "What that allows us to do is play that line of a very uncomfortable subject. A lot of the comedy exists in that nexus. They never really go too far in one direction. They're unwilling participants in this sort of effeminate situation."