Well, I got to be honest, I didn't expect it to live up to the book. But it didn't make a total mockery of it. It actually stayed refreshingly close to the plot line, highlighting all the parts I remembered, and managed not to just produce a cinematic mish-mash, peed on by Hollywood in an effort to mark it's scent and call it fragrant.

So, that's the good part: it stayed true to the book. Unfortunately, because it was such a good book, it did not have anything close to a Hollywood ending, so it was hard to translate that into an American film -- produced in the USA and filmed in English. However, I'd rather see a movie that honors one of the best works by a renowned literary legend then see another conventional happy ending-movie.

So overall, gets a good review. Few points I hated:

The makeup - seriously guys, if half the movie requires the cast to be in makeup to look older than they are, get a damn good makeup artist. I was waiting for one of their 70-year old plaster jowls to fall off the whole last scene.

The casting - seriously misguided. Ok, I'll be fair. There were hits and misses First of all, Catalina Sandino Moreno, of "Maria Full of Grace" fame, was unfortunately given the sidekick-cousin role, and stole the show. She turned Hildebranda's character into the sassy, proud, and sexually aware woman that Gabriel Garcia Marquez intended Fermina to be. The unknown (and Italian, to boot) Giovanna Mezzogiorno fell flat and portrayed the title role as too much damsel in distress...or just dullness...for my taste.
Oh and, I'm sorry, just because John Leguizamo is a B list celebrity who happens to be hispanic, does not give him right to be in this movie. Unless he can actually pull off a Colombian accent. S'ok John. Loved you in "Too Wong Foo" (seriously). Javier Bardem carried the film, as was expected. Though he did manage to creep me out, as he always does; and I haven't even seen No Country for Old Men.

Was Cameron Diaz ever funny? I can't remember. Kate Winslet sure as hell never was, but she never tried to be. I'm not sure which is worse.  Worse than both: watching them jump up and down in school-girl glee as is customary of the overjoyed hollywood nymph. Yeah never need to see that again, particularly after this movie.

Ok, so maybe Kate Winslet was never funny, but she is a damn good actress, The Academy said so five times...though they never gave her the coveted award. Neverfear: the next one's a gimme. And she's no ugly duckling neither. So why does she get stuck with Jack Black as her love interest? So she's not 10 feet tall and bronzed -- she's still more naturally beautiful than Ms. Diaz. Sorry, Cam.

Cameron the glamazon gets saddled with nanny-poker Jude Law, who on first appearance seems charmingly humble, but his natural douche-bagery  soon surfaces, he comes on to her, and the movie goes south. Cameron turns into a babbling brook of annoyance and makes a move on this stranger, claiming both that she's never done such a thing before and that she is also bad at sex. And I'm supposed to believe both? Jude Law sure as hell doesn't, nor does he care. This movie gives one-night stands a bad name. On the plus side, I noticed Jude Law is balding.

Although Ferrell and  Heder engage in amusing banter reminiscent of sibling rivalry throughout the first part of the movie, it's Ferrell that successfully carries the humor throughout the movie. It's really unfortunate how much Heder pales in comparison. Somehow I still muster hope for this novice comedian even after his blink-and-you-will-be-glad-you-missed-it performance in Far From Heaven. I suppose I still hear the echoes of my own laughter at his brilliance in Napolean Dynamite in the hollows of my heart.

Blades of Glory can best be summed up as the gay Blades of Glory, with homophobic comedy substituted for th undercurrent of romantic tension in the 1990 cult classic.


The best thing about this movie:  Will Farrell's Billy Ray Cyrus spin on the famously flamboyant sport of men's figure skating.

The worst thing about this movie: I can't decide.  Heder's failure yet again to live up to my lofty expectations or Jenna Fischer's out-of-body performance. She was either in stupefied awe of Farrell's decade of comedic legacy tor just wearing very itchy wool throughout the movie. She looked rather comfortable and out of place.