On Edge
On Edge
| 17 June 2001 (USA)
On Edge Trailers

Wendy, Veda, and J.C. are part of Southern California's thriving figure skating community - the bottom part. Luckily this is America, the land of opportunity, where a dream in your heart and personal gain in your sights can propel almost anyone to stardom. With this in mind Wendy, Veda, and J.C. are fighting their way to Olympic glory. But first they have to win the Regional Competition - and there can only be ONE winner. Will it be Veda? The beautiful ice princess who responds to her over-bearing mother by routinely puking up her lunch. Or Wendy? The plus-size skater with the super-plus libido. And what about J.C.? The orphaned trailer park girl who'd gladly trade you a pack of smokes for a sequined thong. Under the watchful gaze of Zamboni Phil, the girls train, toil and plot their way to success. Let the Games begin!

Reviews
Nonureva

Really Surprised!

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Ameriatch

One of the best films i have seen

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BoardChiri

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

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Neive Bellamy

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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Movie Lover

I am starting out my addressing someones review in which they say:"this movie was so mean spirited, stupid, and unfunny. How many more fat jokes could they make? What was up with the gross character played by Scott Hamilton? He should be ashamed for making this movie. How could Kristi and Tai want to be associated with this disaster? "Its awesome that people love figure skating but what is HILARIOUS about this movie is that those scenarios and all the jokes are the real parts of figure skating that most fans don't know exist. As a competitive figure skater on the national level for over 12 years, this movie is hilarious and all other skaters agree. It pokes fun of the real things that we deal with. You think the fat jokes are cruel, well thats the real world of figure skating. Judges DO judge on that. And the reason so many olympians participated both acting and behind the scenes of this movie is because it pokes fun of the harsh realities of this sport. Kudos to you guys for making a skating movie thats actually accurate. Nothing bugs me more than when people hear that you are a figure skater and they say "i love the cutting edge" For us skaters, that movie is the worst thing ever and its so far from reality it annoying. Oh yeah, and by the way, kathy griffins character was hilarious because skaters always try to lie about their age to make themselves younger. I get how most people that are fans wouldn't get most of the jokes but for skaters this movie is a tribute. And the judges and higher ups are gross, thats why scotties character was so funny. LOL!!!

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philip-1

I love figure skating. It's my favorite Olympic sport and Lord knows it has it's eccentric, bizarre side which is why it was ripe for a mock documentary like this. However, director Slovin (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is no Christopher Guest. What Guest did to community theater (Waiting for Guffman), dog shows (Best in Show), and country music (A Mighty Wind) is inspired lunacy. One can only wish that he'd taken on this subject as well. Slovin is simply not up to the task. Not by a long shot!The over-the-top writing is only intermittently funny. The direction is slow and clunky! A lot of the jokes are forced. Most of it is downright stupid. The reason Guest succeeds in his mockumentaries is because he takes the original subject matter very seriously. His players and situations are very true to life. That's what makes them funny. The characters in "On Edge" are not so skillfully veiled tropes of real people like Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and Michelle Kwan. They are not conceived properly and in the end simply become annoying and unreal. It doesn't help that the three female leads cannot do anything with the material. The idea of an ebullient, overweight skater may work for a five minute Saturday Night Live skit, but over the course of 90 minutes it strains the reality of a real or fake documentary. There aren't any people like this. A 250 pound skater could never do a triple jump. So instead of poking fun at the real world of skating, Slovin invents fantasies to satirize, weakening the entire movie as a result. The movie actually reminded me of another mockumentary "Drop Dead Gorgeous" about a regional beauty queen contest. The difference is that in that movie the girls competing are totally believable. It's hilarious! The female figure skaters in "On Edge" are not.Jason Alexander gives one of the worst performances of his career. He is embarrassingly dull. He adds little to the movie. And why would a documentary film maker spend so much time with a Zamboni driver in the first place! He should have been smart and passed on the movie. Chris Hogan as the documentary film maker is square in delivery and hopelessly miscast. You don't believe he's a film maker at all! It would have been better to have the character an unseen person behind the scenes. John Glover has a few funny moments as an over the hill Russian skater but the barely acceptable accent wears out its welcome fast. And ice skating legend Scott Hamilton delivers a horrid, unfunny, overly broad, embarrassing performance as a prissy, chain smoking, yellow toothed, bad hair day skating judge. You wonder what he got paid to debase the sport this badly. Adding insult to injury, other skating legends like Kristi Yamaguchi, Robin Cousins, Peter Caruthers, Randy Gardner and Ty Babilonia appear as competition judges. Did none of them realize how bad this movie was.Well, the studio did. They sent it right to video. And if you see it in the video store, spare yourself. If you must have a figure skating movie, try "The Cutting Edge"! That at least honors the sport!

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juicebynora

This film could have been better if they just stopped trying so hard.While this film had its moments, the acting was of poor quality and it just seemed incredibly forced and not believable at all. For a 'mockumentary' to work you have to be able to believe that these are real people you're watching, and not actors. On Edge tries, and falls flat.If you want to see a 'mockumentary' that works see This is Spinal Tap (not 'Spinal Tap on Ice'....) or any one of Christopher Guest's delightful and hilarious films (Waiting for Gufman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind).

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moricoli

ON EDGE is the WAITING FOR GUFFMAN for the figure skating world. Hard to say who is funnier, Jason Alexander as the Zamboni driver at a two-bit SoCal skating rink, or Scott Hamilton in disguise as an insane amateur skating judge. Both serve as commentators who guide a documentarist/professor (played by up-and-coming comic Chris Hogan), as he tails three hopefuls vying for the regional figure skating championship. Seen at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen last week, this film played to a full house. Everyone laughed at the funny bits -- and a couple of women seated near me actually cried at the heart-stopper of a false ending. Excellent performances combined with strong storytelling all point to primo directing by Karl Slovin, who covers skating from a couple of striking new angles (literally, some gorgeous birds' eye view photography). There's good broad comedy from John Glover as the crazy Russian rink owner and Wally Langham of HBO's Larry Sanders Show fame playing a coach -- but the standouts here are the utterly convincing AJ Langer, a Tanya Harding worth rooting for, and Barret Swatek, the cold beauty.The story, which at first blush seems quite familiar, sneaks up on you and defies pat answers because the characters show unexpected depth. At first I was surprised by some of the plot points -- but on second thought they not only made perfect sense, but they conveyed an actual moral. While none of the characters is a saint, about the time you get to your car you realize that the gal who wins is the only one who fights fair. Music and Editing keep ON EDGE on pace -- none of the usual snail-slow indy bog, unlike more celebrated films at this festival.Worth seeing.

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