Swaggering Chazz Michael Michaels (Ferrell) is the posturing macho rock god of the skating rink - a leather-clad ice-athlete who dominates the arena "like a pile of European porn."

Jimmy McElroy (Heder) is a former child prodigy who was plucked from the frozen pond of an orphanage run by skating nuns and groomed for greatness by a millionaire racehorse breeder.

Consumed by vicious rivalry, their respective worlds collapse when a barney on the winners' dais spills over into a full-blooded scrap and the Olympic mascot ends up in flames.

Disgraced, Michaels falls into the clutches of Jack Daniels and sex addiction while playing an evil wizard in a provincial kiddie's ice extravaganza and McElroy is forced to work in a sports store when his tycoon father figure disowns him.

However, salvation - of a sort - comes in the form of coach Craig T Nelson who helps them break back into competitive skating with the unusual wheeze that they escape their international ban by skating not singly... but together.

Helmed by commercials directors Will Speck and Josh Gordon and written by first-timers Jeff and Craig Cox, this slots neatly into that parade of superior Americans comedies running from Anchorman through to Talladega Nights.

Ferrell is on a cartoon roll at the moment, effortlessly gooning his way through a jocular triple lutz that is tailor-made for his excessive brand of tomfoolery, while Heder is emerging an comedy actor of some subtlety (not that that's required here).

There's terrific support, particularly from Will Arnett and Amy Poehler as a viciously competitive Ken & Barbie-style brother-and-sister team who may be just a little bit too close.

The plot - basically a loser-bounces-back scenario - is not important, serving primarily to accommodate a barrage of comedy devices. No, it's the performances that count with Ferrell and Heder an inspired pairing, continually fed a seemingly endless cascade of one-liners and sight gags.

Sharp-eyed viewers will spot former ice skating princess Nancy Kerrigan, whose own experiences at the hands of Tonya Harding demonstrate that dirty tricks really are a feature of international ice-skating.

Tim Evans