Where's the skating?

I grew up with a sister that figure skated and in a family that spent thousands of hours in an arena over the years.

That right there should grant a pretty hefty weight to your insights on this topic. I think the story emphasis in this case, though, is on the developing romantic relationship between the two leads; and the skating is just the background setting for it. If they were doing a biographical film on skaters' lives (e.g., "The Tai Babilonia Story," which admittedly I haven't seen for quite some time), the skating segments would take more center stage and be portrayed more realistically.

The "regionals" competition looks like a skating exhibition, not a competitive event....You know what else they don't use at competitions? Spot lights....Again, I've never seen a spot light at any real competition....
Now the Olympics. Again, seriously? What's with the mood lighting and spot lights!?

Neither have I (re competitions). If you've watched any number of skating movies at all, though, you'll notice that they practically ALL use spot lights for their amateur competitive skating scenes. The Cutting Edge movies aren't distinct in that regard. I haven't followed the sport actively in recent years; but the last I was aware, real professional competitions are most often skated under spotlit rinks; as well as both professional and amateur exhibitions.

In movie medium, however, spotlight skating not only helps disguise the fact that (most often) the actors aren't doing their own freestyle moves; but it's also more entertaining for an audience to watch.

...And no one knew what good figure skating looked like!

As figure skating becomes more and more popular, I suspect that the average movie viewer is more self-educated about what real figure skating actually consists of (even if they can't analyze or define it); and is less likely to enter into that "suspension of disbelief" that the moviemakers are striving for. Eventually it will not only be that certain advanced skating moves are performed in the movie, but how well they are executed. Speed, body posture and angling, height of jumps, clean edges, etc. are all going to play a stronger part in helping to maintain that illusion.

Personally I think it's much easier for a skater to learn how to act, than it is to teach an actor to skate -- that is, to a level technically proficient enough to make the skating scenes look real and limit the use of doubles to no more than absolutely necessary. Acting is not all that complicated, IMO. The actors just need to sufficiently immerse themselves into the story that they are portraying, and the rest comes more or less naturally. Skating skills, by contrast take years of focus, dedication and sacrifice to accomplish; and can't be done on a whim.

At the same time, though, figure skating has evolved quite extensively since its beginnings, to where it very little resembles what it was a century or even fifty years ago. With the dropping of the oft-dreaded school figures in singles skating (which originally gave "figure skating" its name, and granted was quite a while ago now), the entire trend in amateur skating seems to be away from the formal conventions and rigid rules, and toward more creativity in all areas -- choreography, settings, costumes and music. The lines between "professional" and "amateur" skating are being blurred, to where both will often skate in the same exhibitions and sometimes even receive (a limited) compensation for their participation (which never happened before). We've also had skaters come out of professional retirement and compete in international amateur competitions.

I think one reason for this is that the "entertainment" aspect is being stressed more than the "sports/competitive" aspect. Skating is, at its heart, something beautiful to watch. It is an art form as well as a competitive sport; and with that, the more freedom the skaters have to put together their programs, the more creativity and variety will characterize the "sport" part. Even the skate design has improved, to facilitate more athletic moves (remember when quadruple jumps didn't exist -- or at least weren't skated in competition?) while simultaneously minimizing injury; and there are more choices available in equipment for the beginning or intermediate-level skaters that make it both more enjoyable and affordable to a greater number of people.

Although I have never personally skated competitively, I am familiar enough with the sport (and have followed it long enough) that if I really wanted to, I could watch these skating movies with a critical eye and narrate (to myself or others) just what is wrong with them, and why (of course!) no true professional (or serious competitive senior-level amateur) would ever skate that way. :)

But why do that? It just ruins the movie, for both myself and others. There's a level of excellence that, if the skaters/actors achieve that, it is "good enough" and I deem it a worthwhile investment.

Believe me, I can identify with you, though, about some of the more sillier aspects of the movies; and in some, the skating segments (or parts of them) really *Are* seriously lacking. I've seen many skating movies that are more believable (or at least for their time) than this one. It's just that when it comes to figure skating portrayed in dramatic films, it's best to pick one's battles. Spotlight competitions are probably the least likely to change and really aren't worth the effort it takes to critique them.

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