The Cutting Edge: Fire & Ice (NR)

Figure skating star Alex Delgado’s (Francia Raisa) career came to an abrupt halt when her partner (and boyfriend) left the sport and their relationship ended. With few options, she turned to teaching skating, but her passion for competing never faded. When an unexpected offer arises to team up with an unlikely partner -- James McKinsey (Brendan Fehr), the egotistical “bad boy” of speed skating, whose off-rink antics got him booted from the national team -- Alex agrees, tempted by the thought of another world title. But the more Alex and James get to know each other, the more their personalities clash, putting the success of this partnership in serious doubt.

In case you’re keeping count, this is the third sequel attempting to cash in on the popularity of the 1992 original, The Cutting Edge. Like the two before it, FIRE & ICE falls slightly short of the magic fans of the first installment might hope for, but it does have some positive points of its own. Raisa and Fehr make a believable pair onscreen, even if their characters’ impossible overnight success story is far from believable itself. James’s inner struggle between his lucrative speed-skating career and his newfound affection for figure skating (and allegiance to Alex) boasts messages about self-acceptance and dependability.

While most of the content is fine for teens, the developing relationship offers plenty of room for sexual content (innuendo and implied sex, for instance), so parents might want to be cautious in giving impressionable teens the go-ahead. Language is also a concern, with words like “damn” and “ass” common fare, as well as derogatory terms like “hoochie” and “skank.”