Bring It On
**
Rated on a 4-star
scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by Entertainment on October 20, 2000; certificate 12;
99 minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Peyton Reed; produced by Marc
Abraham, Thomas A. Bliss.
Written by Jessica Bendinger.
Photographed by Shawn Maurer; edited by Larry
Bock.
CAST.....
Kirsten Dunst..... Torrance Shipman
Eliza Dushku..... Missy Pantone
Jesse Banford..... Cliff Pantone
Gabrielle Union..... Isis
Sherry Hursey..... Christine Shipman
Holmes Osborne..... Bruce Shipman
Clare Kramer..... Courtney
Nicole Bilderback..... Whitney
"Bring It On" is either an insufferably
indecisive movie or one that's subtly mocking the audience. It knows its
protagonists are stupid -- it satirises them and relies on side characters
to point them in correct directions -- and yet it wants us to root for
them… and yet, it sort of doesn't.
The movie begins in a San Diego high school at
the start of the academic year. Torrance Shipman, a skinny little blonde
played by Kirsten Dunst, has been assigned as head of the cheerleading team
-- a big responsibility, as her squad, the Rancho Carne Toros, have been
national champions five years in a row.
Dramatic tension comes in when one of the crucial
troop members suffers an injury. She is replaced by Missy (Eliza Dushku),
an amazing athlete who has only signed up because "This is the closest your
school gets to gymnastics." Missy is not like the other girls -- she doesn't
have giggly conversations about boys and nail polish, and, my goodness, wears
dark baggy clothes and carries her keys on a chain! This rock chick is clearly
the source of wisdom in the group -- every piece of good advice that Torrance
gets comes from Missy or her brother Cliff (Jesse Banford).
Practice is disrupted by the information that
all of the Toros' routines have been stolen by their former leaders from
a black high school in East Compton. They're not gonna get away with plagiarism
again, warns the captain of that team (Tsianina Joelson), because this time
Compton is taking part in the competitions. Now Torrance is under pressure
to create an original routine that will still wow contest
judges.
Compared to most high school pictures, this plot
isn't cliché through and through, but it's not very interesting, and
writing about it is a dull and laborious task. Who cares about cheerleading?
The movie obviously doesn't. The screenplay mocks the girls by supplying
them with arrogant chants like "I'm pretty, I'm hot, I'm everything you're
not!" and moronic dialogue to the effect of "She puts the 'itch' in 'bitch'!"
There is an amusing moment where Torrance sees Cliff wearing a T-shirt of
The Clash, and she asks "Is that your band?"
There's no point in a whole movie making fun of
something that's obviously dumb, and this one doesn't; most of it is just
wacky physical humour. There is so much foolish bumbling I have no idea how
this team managed to win five national competitions -- they can hardly stagger
out of the changing room. "Bring It On" is not satire, and I'm not sure on
what level it is intended to engage us. It gives off an aura of insipid
pop, counterpoints it with the smart rockers. It spends much time with its
characters, yet we're not supposed to want them to win; the black school
is clearly in the right, and indeed ends up victorious in the
finale.
Why didn't the film centre on the black school,
with the Toros as a background annoyance? That would mean we could have some
heroes and villains. The movie as it stands has neither. Perhaps because
black heroes wouldn't have sold as many tickets, but the filmmakers still
wanted to get some ethnicity in there.
For all its flaws, I still have a kind of grudging
affection for "Bring It On", perhaps because Eliza Dushku, as Missy, is so
sexually appealing, and her performance requires her to interact with a lot
of different sets of characters in different tones, and she does it all
convincingly. Also, as one of the commentators declares in the third act,
"Any sport that combines teenage girls with mini-skirts and dancing is okay
by me."
COPYRIGHT© 2000 Ian
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