Hi folks. Sorry I’ve taken off for so long. I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back into the swing of things. I haven’t stopped watching movies; I just stopped writing about it. I’m struggling to put my thoughts on weightier, more meaningful movies into words right now, so I decided to review Bring It On, a super cheesy teen/sports flick that I watched recently. This post will, I hope get me back in the swing of things, but you can likely expect more in this vein as well. I have stayed away from movies like this in the past, but I figure I enjoy watching these movies, so I might as well use them to exercise my writing skills. Here goes.
Peyton Reed – Director
Netflix
Basic plot: Cheerleader Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) is elected captain of the Rancho Carne High squad, and finds out that the old captain stole their supposedly original routines from East Compton, a nearby school. Torrance turns to newcomer Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku) to help the squad overcome this adversity and bring home their sixth straight championship title. The captain of the East Compton squad is Isis (Gabrielle Union), and although RCH is meant to have copied their routines exactly, the style of the East Compton squad is markedly hip-hop and only minimally “cheerlead-y”.
Complicating matters, RCH is mostly white while East Compton appears predominantly black (the movie shows very little of East Compton aside from the squad). One of the plot twists (minor spoiler) comes when the East Compton squad struggles to raise money to attend the championship competition — something the girls from RCH never even had to consider.
This movie was suggested to me by Netflix several days in a row before I finally gave in and watched it. Normally cheerleaders bug the crap out of me, but Kirsten Dunst intrigued me and Eliza Dushku sealed the deal (if only it had been Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku ❤ XD ). Also a factor in choosing to watch the movie: the release year. Late 90s/early 2000s movies have a strange appeal to me, so this one was hard to turn down even though I don’t generally enjoy cheerleaders in media, as they are often catty, fake, and cliched. Initially, this movie was not much different.
Annoying cheerleader lifestyle aside, I did enjoy watching this movie, for the most part. There were a couple parts that were enlightening for me, as I now realize that people around me have likely referenced a couple scenes without me understanding (spirit fingers, anyone?). I also liked the fact that the love story remained a secondary plotline — the focus of the movie remains on cheering.
There were a lot of cheap jokes and crude humor, but this movie actually did a fairly good job dealing with the more serious themes and issues it holds. The racial/social/economic dialogue is well handled, and even though the cheerleaders start out as annoying and cliche many of them grow throughout the movie. Thanks to Missy and Isis, Torrance learns that cheerleading can take many different forms and faces.
elsa ruth reviews 