Movie Review: Bring It On

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Torrance and Cliff

Cons: Rest of the characters; predictable plot

The Bottom Line:

Two, Four, Six, Eight!  Who

Is sorry he watched this film

Me, me, me! That’s who!

Turns Out I Wasn’t Missing Anything by Not Watching This Movie

Over the years, I’ve heard some people talk about how much they enjoyed Bring It On, so I thought I’d missed out on something.  Plus with all the sequels (okay, direct to video sequels but still), I figured there had to be something I had missed.  Nope.  I would have been just fine skipping this movie all together.

The story followed Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst), who, as a senior, is hoping to become head cheerleader.  If so, she will inherit a great squad that has won back to back championships at nationals.  This is a top notch squad.

Things begin to fall apart when Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku) joins the squad.  She’s just moved to the area, but she quickly tells Torrance something she doesn’t want to hear.  Those award winning routines?  They’re stolen.  And the school they are stolen from is aiming to get to nationals this year, too.  What will Torrance do?

My problem with the movie is that I didn’t like the characters.  It really is that simple.  I felt sorry for Torrance, especially since the rest of the squad doesn’t try to back her at all when she realizes what she must do.  She’s struggling to do the right thing, but no one else wants to put in the effort.  Missy is just surly until late in the film, however her brother Cliff, Torrance's romantic interest, is great.  Heck, I even liked the rival squad better than most of the squad who are supposed to be the heroes.

That’s why the predictable plot points fell flat.  I was mostly bored as I waited for the story to unfold.  I just didn’t like the characters enough to care or get caught up in the story, so I wasn’t having fun.

Heck, even the language, which was just fine for a PG-13 movie, bothered me.  It seemed excessive, although if I’d been enjoying the film I probably wouldn’t have even noticed.  Or maybe it just stood out to me more since I was watching it on TV, and the editing was rather poor.  Yes, the editing actually made the language stand out to me more and cringe more than if they hadn’t edited it.

Now this complaint isn’t on the actors.  I like Kirsten Dunst, and she was a pleasure to watch here as always.  Eliza Dushku was good as well, and the rest of the cast was fine; it was just their characters I couldn’t stand.

I will give the movie this, I enjoyed the climax.  There were some nice moments there, and the routines we got to see were spectacular.

Overall, I’m glad I just wasted my time on Bring It On.  Now that I’ve got the curiosity out of my system, I’ll move on to another movie.