The Cutting Edge (PG, 1992)

Sex, drugs, and … figure skating? Yep. THE CUTTING EDGE is a kind of souped-up retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, with a strong, compelling female lead and a strong man just sensitive enough to know a good thing when he sees it. Doug (D.B. Sweeney) is that man, a philandering hockey player who sustained a serious injury during the Olympics that stopped his career in its tracks. Meanwhile, Kate (Moira Kelly) is the perfect ice princess, literally. When she falls on the ice during the Olympics, she blames her partner and spends the next two years eviscerating any man who comes close to her personal ice rink in tony Connecticut. Then in walks Doug, who is not intimidated by Kate or her rages. But can they work well enough together to be ready for the nationals in a year? And can Kate and Doug finally reach their goals of winning a gold medal?

As far as romantic comedies go, the answer to how the story ends is obvious. But getting there is all the fun. There are great montages of workouts and fumbling on the ice. Soon it becomes clear why these two are attracted to each other: they're both uber-competitive and neither are intimidated by the other. What's most interesting here is that Kate is a complex, driven woman looking for an equal, not someone easily intimidated by her considerable strengths. The message of the film, in the end, is finding true love means finding someone who accepts you just the way you are.

However, the film's weakness is also a problem universal to love stories: the chemistry between Kate and Doug is electric and also dramatic. They fight and often they hate each other. And while this is fun to watch, it's no fun to be in such relationships. Impressionable teens may not understand that.