Le feu sur la glace

I never said a romantic movie "must watch" before. But this one is really something special. "The Cutting Edge" may not have an interesting story or plot twist offered by movies of the same genre. It has a very simple story which was portrayed in a very simple manner. Still this movie succeeds in winning the my heart. Thanks to Moira Kelly for it. The character "Kate Mosley" was safe with Moira and she immersed into it with extreme perfection. The chemistry between Kate and Doug was heart-warming and it uplifts this movie into a different level. I would recommend this movie to everyone and promise you from my heart that it never disappoints.

Take a handsome young ex-hockey star who could never do much other than skate, a prima-donna figure-skater who finds fault with every world-class partner thrown her way and laughs at said ex-hockey star, and an obligatory crazy-genius Soviet expatriate, send them all after Olympic glory, and you have The Cutting Edge.

Lead characters Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) and Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly) are star-crossed skaters: an eye injury at the Olympics ruined Doug's hockey career, while an ill-timed fall in the pairs figure skating finals leaves Kate's destiny unfulfilled. Coach Anton Pamchenko (Roy Dotrice) fishes Dorsey out of a construction site and transplants him to the Moseley estate in Greenwich. The fish-out-of-water concept was not as blatant as Pauly Shore's movies, but it was definitely there.

The stereotypical supporting cast did its job: Terry O'Quinn is the wealthy, doting father who is either obsessed with an Olympic medal for his daughter, or obsessed with his daughter who happens to want an Olympic medal (the movie never really makes clear which), while snobby fiancé Hale Forrest (Dwier Brown) is forgettable yet necessary to the plot, as is Walter Dorsey (Chris Benson), Doug's stereotypical nuts-and-bolts, slightly homophobic and very skeptical brother.

With Breakfast Club-like cost-efficiency, the film sticks to the dialogue between the few main characters, who are on screen for the large majority of the film. The questions are timeless: will Kate marry her snobby fiancé or will passion erupt from the love-hate relationship with her skating partner? Will they overcome the judging bias against ex-hockey players and win gold? Will Kate loosen up? Will Doug gain some culture and refinement? One could say that this film is predictable, but that is a good thing. Films like The Cutting Edge lose very little even if you've heard the story told a hundred times in a dozen ways. Suspense is not the goal here; romance is, and this film serves up more of it than almost every media-hyped "blockbuster" I've ever seen.

It's the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary. Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) is a promising hockey player, but his career is cut short by an eye injury. Kate Moseley (Moira Kelly) is a spoiled temperamental pairs figure skater who goes through every partner. Then 2 years later, Moseley still can't find a partner, and Dorsey can't find a team. Her coach Anton Pamchenko decides to put them together despite their combative relationship.

They have good chemistry together. Their combative nature is the perfect heat for a relationship. It is a fundamental building block to a good rom-com. That's what we have here. Two perfectly match solid actors doing a good rom-com. Moira Kelly has the perfect indignant pout, and Sweeney has a great sly smirk.

OK, so the plot is formulaic. There is nothing new here, really. Or is there? I have seen this movie a few times, and always liked it. I think it's the acting and dialog.

The acting is a cut above what you would expect from the movie. The female lead is a prima donna. I felt like her complex human emotions at times were fairly believable. Sometimes she's bitchy. Sometimes confused. Sometimes you like her.

The male lead is perhaps not quite as good. But they did not fall into the pattern of simply making him another dumb jock. In a scene where they have both had too much to drink, I felt he reacted in a very realistic way. He delivers this great line in the movie to her after she insists he button the top button of his costume. Something to the effect of 'if buttoning that button made the difference between a long happy life and a painful death, he would not give her the satisfaction.' It was a perfectly acted scene, IMO.

The dialog was much better than expected in this type of movie. There's some pretty funny lines. And some generally great exchanged between the actors that are far less dull than you would expect. If I put this into the category of sports movies, I would say it really rates well partly due to dialog.

OK, so you can predict the plot. Obviously, it's a formulaic movie. But along the way, they throw in a few curves, and the characters react in many ways like normal humans would in the same situation, at least in my opinion.

If you like the love/hate romance movies, and triumphant sporting movies, I think this is up your alley.

p.s. chick flicks are not my favored genre, so the fact I liked this movie, says something I think (because it's a bit of a chick flick at times.)

I was twelve years old when I saw this film. Then, I thought it was great. Now, at twenty-one, I think it's awesome. Some may criticize the "inaccuracies" of the skating, but if one looks closely at the credits, world renowned skater Robin Cousins is the technical advisor and skating scene coordinator. Also, the pairs skaters they compete against are also, as far as I can tell, are real skaters. While they probably wouldn't jump into major competitions right away, they did it this way most likely for timesake. It's a sweet love story that is refreshingly free of violence (save the occasional slapshot), gratutious sex, and vulgar language. It is a delight for young and old combining chemestry, believability, and awesome skating sequences. I give it a nine and a half out of ten; if for nothing else, then for the warm fuzzies you get from watching it.