Le feu sur la glace - En route vers la gloire

Once upon time, when the earth was green, an obscure and unambitious little young adult romcom was produced in Canada. The name of the film was The Cutting Edge. To the great surprise of everyone both in front of, and behind, the camera, the film was magical, a genuine phenom, and became (and still is!) a cult classic. If you have not seen it, stop reading this and go find a copy. NOW.

(Yes, yes, I know, before the email starts, the official IMDb profile says that CE1 was a US production but if you read the fine print, you will see that all filming was done in and around Toronto. Which means that most of the production staff were Canadian. Which makes this a first-generation Canadian film. Understand this -- there is a reason that most first-gen Canadian films have never been seen or heard of again. To be able to say that CE1 actually became a classic is ... extraordinary.) OK, back to CE2, a direct to video production. The good news is the performance of Christy Carlson Romano. It is never less than good and often more than great. It literally sustains the weak script (in many places a copy of CE1) and forgettable performances from the rest of the cast. Not their fault though. Looks like it was produced on a shoestring.

I read the IMDb reviews which tout that this film is good enough to stand on its own. Ugh! Listen, if not for the success of CE1, which started the franchise, this production would never have happened. At the end of the day, THAT is the acid test.

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.

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.

For what it was, it was OK...a lot like the original movie especially with the spoiled-ness and getting everything handed to her. The same on the flipping the skirt up. It did clear up the ending of the original when it was left unclear whether or not Kate and Doug medaled after their program. I did think perhaps the original Kate and Doug would have captured more attention and maybe made the ratings a little better. Little disappointed on the new Christy Carlson-R...hard to see her go from a sweet innocent girl to a girl drinking and swearing. But who was Luanne in the movie? I had seen Christine Larkin in "Step By Step" but didn't recognize her in this movie. And who played Kate? I didn't see her character listed in the cast credits...maybe someone can shed some light on this.

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.