IMDb

Sally
Fun Fact: The locker room scene near the beginning of Bring It On was filmed at my high school. I have vivid memories of returning to school after the summer to find the girl’s locker room repainted and the excited gossip filtering through the halls that a movie had been filmed on campus. Then of course the boys started grumbling that their locker room didn’t get repainted, but whatever, they were just totally jealous that Kirsten Dunst never stood in her bra next to their locker.

I remember watching Bring It On movie about a million times after it was released, but probably haven’t watched it properly since 2003. Funny enough I still remembered the dream sequence opening cheer word for word (“We’re cheerleaders! We. Are. Cheerleaders!”). So I guess that’s a part of my brain I’ll never get back. Of course, for every line I remembered there were at least three I had completely forgotten about. Almost all of these forgotten quips were way more sexual or raunchy than I recalled, which makes me glad I never took this movie to watch on the occasions I babysat our kid reviewer Lucy. She probably needs to wait a few more years before watching this.

The acting here is great, even if the dialogue is not appropriate for kids. Kirstin Dunst kills it as Ta-Ta-Ta-Torrence, who has just landed her dream role as captain of her cheerleading squad. Her joy is short lived, when new girl Missy (Eliza Dushku) informs her that all of the team’s cheers were stolen from another high school by the previous captain. Gabrielle Union plays the captain of the wronged squad, and should have had a bigger role. That’s really my only complaint about the movie.

Unlike some movies from my teens, this one aged incredibly well. It’s not the best thing to ever grace theaters, but it is a fun watch. This is clearly taking the piss out of cheerleaders, but at the same time honors the sport in a weird way. The athleticism needed to perform the complex lifts, throws, and flips is impressive; the creativity to choreograph the routines admirable. Yes, the world of cheerleading is full of big hair and overdone makeup, but these girls and guys probably train as hard– if not harder– than some other athletes.

Rating: B-

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Ben
It just happened that we watched this film and Bridge to Terabithia on the same night. Both are great examples of how terrible school life can be sometimes. Bring It On is more lighthearted than Terabithia, but it still captures the bitchiness seen in high school really well.

Bring It On stars Kirsten Dunst as Torrence, a newly crowned captain of her school’s award winning cheerleaders. She is under a lot of pressure to win nationals, just like her team has for the previous five years, under the leadership of former captain ‘Big Red’ (Lindsay Sloane). When a new member (Eliza Dushku) shows Torrence that all of her routines have been stolen from a nearby high school, she is faced with a dilemma. Where can she get some new routines quickly, and learn them well enough to win nationals?

This film is a lot of fun. The world of semi-professional cheerleading does not seem that interesting, but Bring It On has a lot of fun in this world. All the girls in this cheerleading troupe are so bitchy and have some fantastic one liners. It is a very funny film, I enjoyed it a lot. There is probably some nostalgia going on here, as this film reminds me a lot of high school, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is a very entertaining movie with great teenage dialogue and some really good dance routines during the cheering competitions.

Rating: C+