My Favorite Movies: #23—The Cutting Edge

23. The Cutting Edge (1992)

Genre: Romantic Drama

Director: Paul Michael Glaser

Writer: Tony Gilroy

Stars: D. B. Sweeney, Moira Kelly, Roy Dotrice, Terry O’Quinn

Awards: none

IMDB user rating: 6.9/10

IMDB Ranking: n/a

This is the one you're all going to roast me about, but I don't care. This movie is at the top of my "Guilty Pleasures" list. It's an opposites-attract romance with stock characters and a completely predictable plot, but I don't care...I love it anyway.

Doug Dorsey (D.B. Sweeney) is the best player on the U.S. Olympic hockey team with a bright future in the NHL ahead of him. Kate Mosely (Moira Kelly) is favored to win the Gold Medal for pairs figure skating. But a head injury ends Doug's career in hockey, while Kate's inability to trust a male partner prevents her from winning the coveted gold.

Her skating coach, a Russian named Anton Pamchenko (Roy Dotrice) realizes that no one in competitive figure skating will work with Kate. He also knows that Doug has no future in hockey, but he can still skate like a champion. Irresistible force, meet immovable object. Harsh words are exchanged. Hateful glances resound through the rink. Tempers flare as both partners resist the inevitable attraction between them.

One of the best things about a guilty movie pleasure is that it's the cinematic equivalent of comfort food—you know it's not inherently good, and you also know that it's not good for you, but it just makes you feel so wonderful as you're partaking of it. The Cutting Edge is my favorite bit of romantic comfort food.

It's as cheesy as it sounds, but let's be honest...most of us love cheese. The appeal of this movie in a general sense is the chemistry between Sweeney and Kelly, two likeable and appealing actors who give their all to these characters, as well as the fun of watching the predictable beats unfold: a) meet cute; b) hate each other; c) crush on each other; d) fight; e) make up. 

But in a more personal sense, my affinity for the film is connected to a specific time in my life. I was a pretty lonely guy in my teens and twenties. I spent most of my high school years chasing a girl who I couldn't quite catch, and my entire undergrad term in college was alone and dateless (not even one...I'm not exaggerating). I had a brief relationship with a wonderful young woman when I was in grad school, but my own shortcomings ended that. This movie came out in the Spring of 1992, many months before my next real-life relationship would begin.

What I'm saying is that for a lonely young man with an excess of unfulfilled romantic longings, this movie hit me right in my sweet spot. Watching these appealing characters, who you want to see both fulfill their Olympic dreams and realize their love for each other, go through the familiar beats of a predictable romantic plot was, at the time, almost like experiencing it for myself.

So take your shots, O cynical and jaded Internet hoi polloi...I won't apologize for loving this deep-dish cheese pizza with extra cheese and fried cheese sticks on the side. It makes me happy inside!