Kate Moseley is a world-class figure skater representing the United States in the pairs event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. She has genuine talent, but years of being spoiled by her wealthy widower father Jack have made her impossible to work with.
Doug Dorsey is captain of the U.S. ice hockey team at the same Winter Olympics. Just minutes before a game, he and Kate collide in a hallway in the arena. During the game, Doug suffers a head injury that permanently damages his peripheral vision, costing him a shot to play in the NHL and forcing him to retire from ice hockey. During Kate's event, her partner apparently accidentally drops her, albeit with little sign of regret or concern, during their program, costing them a chance at the gold medal.
While training for the 1992 Winter Olympics over the next two years, Kate drives away all potential skating partners with her attitude and perfectionism. Her coach, Russian native Anton Pamchenko, has to find a replacement, an outsider who doesn't know that Kate is spoiled and difficult. He tracks down Doug, who is back home in Minnesota, working in a steel mill and as a carpenter on the side, living with his brother, and playing in a hockey bar league. Desperate for another chance at Olympic glory, Doug agrees to work as Kate's partner, even though he has macho contempt for figure skating.
Kate's snooty, prima donna behavior gets on his nerves immediately, and their first few practices do not go well as they antagonize each other. However, they develop a mutual respect as both strive to outdo each other in work ethic. As their relationship grows warmer, they learn to set aside their differences, becoming a pair to be reckoned with both on and off the ice. Kate even boldly defends Doug to her former coach who patronizes and insults them, and Doug defends his unusual choice of sport to his own family and friends, whom he had expected to mock him.
At the U.S. Nationals, despite strong performances in the short program and long program, they seem to place third, shattering their Olympic dreams. However, when one of the leading pairs falls during the competition, they advance to second place, earning their spot on the Olympic team. However, their potential is threatened by their growing attraction to each other. Kate attempts to seduce Doug after a night of drunken celebration, revealing that she broke off her engagement to wealthy financier Hale Forrest. Usually a ladies' man, Doug uncharacteristically rebuffs her advances, fearing the possibility of regret and loss of respect for each other.
When Kate discovers that Doug has bedded another woman (a rival skater) almost immediately after leaving her to sleep off her intoxication, she becomes enraged. However, the temporary rift is set aside as they attempt to train in a risky skating move invented by Pamchenko, which will assure them a gold medal if they can pull it off without serious injury.
At the finals at the Albertville Olympics, they look to be one of the top pairs competing for the gold. However, another argument threatens their chemistry on the ice, and in the process Doug and Kate both discover that Kate is the fallible partner after all. Before getting on the ice for their decisive performance, Doug professes to Kate that he has fallen in love with her, leaving Kate overcome with emotion, and she decides they are going to do the Pamchenko. They proceed to skate with a passion neither had shown before, performing the Pamchenko flawlessly to win them the gold medal. Kate tells Doug she also loves him and they kiss each other before the cheering crowd.
Christine Hough and Doug Ladret, as Soviet team Smilkov and Brushkin. This Canadian figure skating pair finished ninth in the actual Olympic competition portrayed in the film, just six weeks before the film was released.
The soundtrack album was originally released by Rykodisc in 1998; in 2004 it was reissued by Varèse Sarabande with 20 minutes of Patrick Williams' score (tracks 11–22).
The Cutting Edge was released on March 27, 1992, and grossed $25,105,517 domestically.[1]
The film was met with mixed critical reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 57% based on 35 reviews, with the site's consensus: "Part contrived romance, part hackneyed sports drama, The Cutting Edge shows how difficult it can be to figure skate through cheese."[7] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A to F.[8]
Of the leads, Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote "Kelly and Sweeney are evenly matched",[9] and the Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel said "the chemistry between the co-stars makes it work".[10] Thomas added, "the entire cast and crew deserve full marks for their determination in making something special out of material that so easily could have been bland, predictable or sentimental".[9] In another positive review, Stephen Holden of The New York Times said, "Ms. Kelly's uncompromising portrayal of a high-strung prima donna whose outrageous willfulness masks a girlish vulnerability gives the picture a big charge of energy."[11] In The Baltimore Sun, Stephen Hunter described it as "Taming of the Shrew on ice" and pointed out its lack of realism, but said that it made for an enjoyable film with charm.[12]
