In 2000, screenwriter Jessica Bendinger and director Peyton Reed came together to create Bring It On, a teen comedy about life in the cheerleading world. The film, which featured future superstar Kirsten Dunst, was released in the late months of summer without much buzz. However, it recieved surprisingly great reviews and was met with massive box office figures, making it one of the year's biggest surprise hits. Audiences loved the film's inventive blend of comedy and sports film, and it has now become a classic for that generation. Six years later, Bendinger takes the helm on her latest project. Stick It, a teen film set in the gymanstics world, borrows much from Bring It On in terms of style, but it still proves to be fun and entertaining in its own way.

The story follows Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym), a 17-year old rebel with a bad family life who ends up in court after a run-in with the law. The judge gives her two options. She can either spend her time in a juvenile detention center or attend a gymnastics academy to clean up her act. Haley, who was once a star in the sport, is reluctant to return to the world she once knew. She has gained a reputation as the girl who walked out on the World Championships. But with the help of her tough yet encouraging coach Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges), Haley soon rediscovers why this sport means something to her.

In sports films, the plot is always predictable, but in this film the final sequence (in which several girls attend the National Championships) takes a fun and unexpected turn. Bendinger is incredibly strong in this genre, giving the screenplay a lot of wit and energy throughout. Characters that could have been one-dimensional are fully developed, and cliched roles are given a new spin. It is a shame that the film occassionally resorts to juvenile humor for laughs, for it feels wrong amidst the rest of the comedy present. Stick It is also stylishly directed and moves at a fast pace. The gymnastics sequences are incredibly fascinating to watch and are impeccably shot. Like Bring It On, some scenes will even make it hard to stay in your seat.

Performances for the most part are solid, especially from the two leads. Jeff Bridges adds a lot of spunk to his coach role, making the character very likable and hip. He plays against type here and is able to handle the film's comedic and dramatic moments very well. Missy Peregrym is one of the reasons that the film works so well and is a true star on the rise. As the film's protagonist, her performance is multi-layered and comes off as completely realistic. She is also incredibly likable and charming, allowing the audience to really identify with her character. Peregrym also has great chemistry with Bridges, which allows the two to play off each other often.

Unfortunately, most of the supporting performers are mediocre in comparison. Worst is Vanessa Lengies (TV's "American Dreams"), who plays Haley's rival Joanne. While her performance improves as the film progresses, Lengies is fairly awful for the most part. She delivers her lines in a boring monotone and most of the time she is quite laughable. But, as mentioned, she does get better - mostly in the film's final scenes. Nikki SooHoo and Maddy Curley, who portray two other gymnasts, do not get enough screentime to really make an impression.

Overall, Stick It isn't groundbreaking and it certainly doesn't measure up to Bring It On. But it's a fun film with a lot of energy that is a definite crowd-pleader. Enjoy it for what it is, nothing more and nothing less.

7/10 ( B )

I thought I'd start this week's film viewing/reviewing with it's most important release - Stick It.

I went in hoping for a decent genre picture, like Take the Lead, which I saw last week, but came out in wonderment at having seen a truly great movie which transcended it's genre altogether.

Judge the judge.

Stick It is on surface, a grrrrl power movie, featuring bad-ass gymnasts. Underneath and over top, it's a philosophical treatise on the nature of reality and it's relation to self-respect. This is the underdog sports movie's underdog sports movie. It's funny, thought provoking, and inspirational - it's a meta-cliché defining future clichés for years to come. Define the rules of your game with your playing partners. Don't be fooled, this is the gold medalist.

6 out of 5.

Another classic Witherberry review.

Yeah...

bradley, you're really not saying anything with that.

I bow at the feet of the master.

As a benchmark, all of my reviews strive for the understated simplicity of your classic recent review of Tristan & Isolde:

There was no place to start with Tristan & Isolde.

Nothing works.

It's better to say it like it is than to pretend it's a masterpiece (and give it a 5 out of 5).

I'm not pretending - I've already added it to my 2006 Top Ten List - Stick It is a great movie...

(BTW, I didn't rate it 5 out of 5, either.)

So Stick It is better than perfect?

You betcha!

Actually, my scale goes up to 7 out of 5 - eg: last year's tragically under-rated Proof...

Just saw it...

I felt the movie lacked the engery of Bring It On, though it did have more humor in it than the former. The training/in gym competion fell flat, I wanted more rivarly and better music. Most of the girls, which was basically all but the lead , were never really fleshed out much, they were just there for some comic relief and of course to make the lead look good. Which they did since Missy Peregrym stood out from everyone and made the movie her own.

Jeff Bridges was better than I thought he would be. He was not a carnicature of Bela Karyoli or other well known coaches which I was expecting, but a stern but fair coach. He quickly became likable.

As for the gymnastics? Forget it of course since this is Hollywood, not a documentary.Peregrym is way too tall for gymnastics of any kind. Model maybe but not gymnast.Which is probably why her routines sucked and looked so easy, it just was not believable. Sexy, hell yeah. Which is of course the selling point of this movie since real gymnasts have no curves,lol.

I have to say the humor was good in this film, and with the fast pace the movie went by nicely. The dorky guy friends were forgettable and could have been dropped with out affecting the film.

A decent popcorn film that will probably be popular on DVD. Wait for the rental.

Decent gymnastics comedy. I thought Bring It On was a lot better. B-/C+

B

Hmm, it lacked an ending, but overall I thought it was fairly decent.

C+

It lacked a lot of things.