The Cutting Edge: Going for the Gold

I really wanted to like this movie. The original was so good. I saw this one on broadcast TV. It might have been TV editing that screwed it up but there are still too many flaws. It simply doesn't measure up to the original story. It lacks the spark and pizazz of the original. Contrary to what the previous critic said, if you are going to use the same title and the same character names in this sequel, you have to invite comparison. The movie just stumbled along right until the end. There was some very nice skating but even that was kind of pieced together. I felt that every time they changed angles they were simply cutting out another fall. (Sorry, just the way it looked to me). In the end I had to ask myself why I had wasted my time.

The answer to this is Stephanie Kramer from the Hunter show. She does not show up on the credits on this site but if you look at her picture it is her. I do not if she did appear on the movie credits but I did love Hunter when it was on television and was very happy to see her in a movie. On the topic of the movie, I was rather disappointed that they did not explain more about how Kate and Doug got to the marriage and having their daughter skate as they did. I did find the scene with Alex learning to skate in front of the very young girls quit familiar as I once had to fall down in front of much younger skaters. Though he managed better then I did by accually learning to skate.

The featured comment that gives an "A+++ for good clean fun" to this film is written like a studio authored press blurb. I'm a little suspicious of the author as I just saw the DVD and I can say that this film competes with "Highlander II: The Quickening" as the worst sequel ever. I was a fan of Christy Romano until this movie. Mostly because she is hot, but also because she acts with so much energy. She had the acting breadth of a soap actress in this film. She projected three emotions; bemused, upset and completely blank, and used them over and over again, sometimes inappropriately. That would be fine for a half an hour TV show, but it was a snore here. It was like she took the Ren Stevens character from "Even Stevens", renamed her Jackie and threw her into this film. Ross Thomas did a good job of playing a "dude" character, but every non-skating scene between the two was dragged down by Ms. Romano's Jackie. As to the film itself, it played like an episode of "Baywatch" complete with montages of unrelated people and things used to transition to the next scene and pop songs in the background that drown out the actors dialog. It's "Baywatch" on ice. What a shame.

This movie tries too hard to capitalize on the original, yet it seems as though the producer/directors didn't really see it. The interplay between the leading characters seems contrived, not at all as thoroughly charged and enjoyably funny as that from Doug and Kate in the first movie. Where there are clear parallels between the two, they come off flat. Where it really suggests to me that the producers didn't even study the magic of the first movie, is the casting of the new Kate and Doug. Who saw any of Moira Kelly's charm and fire in Stepfanie Kramer's character. In a word, she was wimpish. And does anyone see Scott Thompson Baker getting on the ice with DB Sweeney. And together they were just blah. Sequels always pale in comparison to the original, but this film could have been cute with a better script, and the two new characters contrasted with more colorful versions of Kate and Doug. A big disappointment!!

The whole premise of this film is based on the main character as the daughter of Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly) and Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) of Paul Michael Glaser's film, "The Cutting Edge" (1992). The time line does not match. It is a physical impossibility.

The final scenes of "The Cutting Edge" take place at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France. These games took place between 8-23 February 1992. Even if Kate had conceived on the night of the pairs final when they finally "said it", the child would have been born later that year. She would be 13 years old in 2006, ineligible for seniors skating and Olympic competition. Jackie Dorsey as portrayed in this film is definitely NOT thirteen! As a stand alone work, this might be an OK film, but to base it on the Mosely-Dorsey connection asks too much suspension of disbelief on the part of one who has seen and loved the story of Doug and Kate.

Too bad the makers couldn't wait for Vancouver.