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
Syl

Okay this is a spoof about documentary style movies about figure skating in Southern California. It's not supposed to be great but it has a great cast. I love Wendie Malick as the single mother obsessed with her daughter, Veda, who has a secret passion for cooking and would rather be in the kitchen than a skater. She has a Tonya Harding type J.C. Cain who would love to be the queen of the ice Capades and shows. She comes from a trailer park community. The third contestant is played by Marisa Janet Winokur (she won a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for Hairspray). She plays Wendy, a girl from a wholesome supportive family and coached by her mother. She finally gets her dream coach after his client is eliminated. You see a lot of familiar faces like Jason Alexander as Zamboni Phil, Chris Hogan as the Professor, Kathy Griffin as Kathy Katz among others. I don't take this film seriously. Oh Scott Hamilton, Peter Carruthers, Kristi Yamaguchi show that they can poke fun at their sport.

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leychica

I had high hopes for this film because of its stellar cast – Jason Alexander, Marissa Winkour, Kathy Griffin, A.J. Langer, and Wendie Mallick all have such strong comedy chops, I figured any movie with these actors HAD to be good. Right? Alas, this was so bad it was unwatchable.There have been many references to Christopher Guest's mockumentaries in these comments, and I agree that this movie is a long, long way from being in the same league as Guest's. The main difference is that Guest's films genuinely love and respect their subject matters, even while deprecating them. The writers of this film apparently hate figure skaters, and as a result, the "jokes" are offensive, mean-spirited, and sexist, as opposed to being light, good-natured fun. Nearly EVERY scene contains a fat joke at Winkour's expense. The Veda character is stalked and nearly raped in a parking lot by two idiot male groupies, and this is passed off as hilarity. Bulimia and drug use are also given the comedy treatment, and every unfunny, poorly-written gag is repeated several times.What a waste of talent! The three lead characters (Winkour, Swatek, and Langer) cannot do anything with the material. Kathy Griffin's role was far too short. Jason Alexander seems embarrassed to be in the movie, as if he signed on and then couldn't take it back. The narrator is square, boring, lacks timing, and adds nothing to the mockumentary nature of the story.Worst of all, the movie is tragically low-budget, and nowhere is this more evidence than in the film's music. Whoever wrote the music was about 20 years behind the times, apparently scoring every scene with AWFUL 80s keyboard pop. Obviously, I can't fault a movie for not having lots of money thrown at it, but the filmmakers didn't even TRY to make this film sound professional. One character is obsessed with Madonna, yet the music she is listening to clearly is NOT Madonna's – it is a very cheap, and not at all realistic, imitation of "Get into the Groove." Similarly, another skater later ostensibly skates to the Titanic theme music, yet the "music" is clearly a bad imitation of the Titanic score, not the real thing. The filmmakers insult the audience's intelligence with this tripe, and make this movie feel like a cheap 80s film instead of one made in 2001.I am only giving this film 4 stars because of the cast. The writing deserves 0 stars.

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toolittlemine

If you enjoy mocumentaries like Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, etc. this movie will surely disappoint you. It may actually cause you to angrily curse your TV as you watch this stinky rental.In order for a mocumentary to work you need to have compelling characters with depth, humanity and truth. The reason the Christopher Guest works noted above work so well is that his films are largely unscripted. The talented actors who work with Guest are genius improvisational artists and very fine actors.Guest gives these actors a framework and allows them to create their work for his films. What they produce is at once quirky, touching and hilarious. You will find nothing like that in On Edge.Nearly every person in this horrible film acts way over the top, struggles to deliver terrible lines in a convincing way.Don't waste your time or money on this if you are expecting comedy. However if you enjoy seeing people being painfully degraded, then this hateful film might be for you. There is nothing remotely documentary about On Edge. The script is deplorable, the acting and direction even more so.

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sarahmas

Whoever wrote the positive comment on this movie had to be working for the production company. 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? What happened to Jason Alexander's acting skills? Did he leave them all on the set of Seinfeld?It didn't gently and affectionately poke fun at the sport, like Bring it On did for competitive cheerleading. It consistently stressed that all skaters are bulimic psychopaths, all the mothers are desperate middle aged hags trying to regain their lost youth, and all the judges are biased snobs whose scores can be bought with sexual favors. I was waiting for the gay jokes to come out but with no male skaters I guess the writers just couldn't figure out how work them in.I am not against dumb but funny movies, but this movie was just depressing. Don't waste your time.

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