The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice (Film Review)

2010 MGM Worldwide Television Distribution
Directed by: Stephen Herek; Written by: Holly Brix
Starring: Francia Raisa and Brendan Fehr
MPAA Rating: N/A; Running Time: 87 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 5/10

Alex's skating partner and romantic partner from The Cutting Edge: Chasing the Dream, Zack, gets hurt and I guess vanishes off the face of the Earth. In comes speed skating bad boy, James, who's been banned from his chosen sport, and now wants to take up pairs figure skating. James somehow convinces the dejected Alex to come back to skating, but he's such a narcissistic jerk, the testy, fiery relationship they develop almost outweighs their incredible chemistry on the ice. Will James ever be able to put anyone above himself? Will these two fall in love and win an Olympic gold medal? Does ABC Family love making a Cutting Edge movie?
In The Cutting Edge: Fire and Ice, the fourth and to date final entry in the ice-skating romantic comedy series, the filmmakers decide to stick with what they believe is the series' proven formula: find a figure-skating odd couple who rubs each other the wrong way, until, after lots of figure skating, they start...er...rubbing each other the right way.
Chasing the Dream found a satisfying way to break the formula, presenting a couple who brought the romantic heat without ever really having to bicker. Fortunately, this fourth film brings back the breakout star of that third film, the excellent Francia Raisa as Alex. Unfortunately, that also means, for the sake of a generic take on the standard Cutting Edge plot, the filmmakers have got to, against all logic, put Alex in the same position she was in at the start of the last film: single and having given up on professional skating. 
If you can forgive Fire and Ice for negating the third film (which is superior to this one), you also have to deal with how it just rehashes the plot of the first two, with the only major departure being that the male skater here is an overt jerk, and the female one is nice. This means the film leans hard intro tropes the original 1992 The Cutting Edge deftly avoided, as only the male character here really needs to learn anything, while the female one is fine as is (as well she should be--adding a bunch of flaws to Alex that she didn't have in the previous film would be unforgivable).
It's a bit of a shock then that the movie still kind of works. That's a testament to not only the strength of the Cutting Edge formula, but the charisma of Raisa and Brendan Fehr, who smirkily hams it up as James, a character that I couldn't help but enjoy, despite his ridiculous, over-the-top behavior. However, the most important element in any of these films, and boy I can't believe I'd ever say this about a romantic comedy series that's mostly straight to cable, but the most important element in any of these films in this Cutting Edge series that I must admit I quite enjoy, is that the leads have great chemistry, and Raisa and Fehr's is off the charts (just like Raisa's was with Matt Lanter in the previous film...I think Francia Raisa might be good at these movies). 

So, the viewer knows what is going to happen at movie's end, knows how the movie is going to get there, seen a thousand movies get to the same place the same way, but I'd be lying if I said this viewer didn't get some enjoyment from Fire and Ice. I guess I just like The Cutting Edge.