by Joe Buffaloe
Daily Lobo
"Bring It On" is the essential cheerleading film of the century.
If you are like me, you are waiting for another one.
Only with gymnastics instead of cheerleading, and a Sum-41-esque punk-rock attitude.
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If these were your hopes, then writer/director Jessica Bendinger delivers with the film "Stick It." The in-your-face title lets you know from the beginning that this film's going to throw down, and you'd better be ready.
Be warned - "Stick It" might be too hard-core for some people.
Can you handle a world-class teenage gymnast who leaves the sport for skateboarding? Is that too extreme for you? Will you be able to sympathize with a lead character who gets arrested for trespassing and property damage, or would that just blow your fragile mind?
When Haley Graham - actress Missy Peregrym - gets arrested, she is given the option of going to military school or the Vickerman Gymnastics Academy. For plot purposes, she chooses to give gymnastics another whirl. She arrives at the academy to find a fatherly yet hard-nosed coach, played by Jeff Bridges, and a host of snarky, rule-following girls who resent her rebellious attitude.
You might expect this hard-core girl to tell them all to "stick it," as the title suggests. But she's so hard-core that she decides to rekindle her love for the sport, join the team, come to terms with her family, and compete in the climactic meet at the end of the film. Punk is so totally not dead.
The film's not all nihilistic teenage angst, though. There are some funny sex jokes. And it dishes out plenty of revulsion at the scoring system in gymnastics. As a hockey player, I've never liked the concept of judges deciding a winner, either. That's what fists are for.
That being said, I'm not sure Bendinger's latest film has the social relevance of "Bring It On."
I'm sure we all remember that film's poignant satire of racial inequality in our school systems, and its scathing criticism of whites who appropriate African-American cheerleading innovations for their own diabolical ends. Such culture-piercing insights are lacking in this film.
I suppose "Stick It" is just a more personal film. Bendinger seems to have traded in her Voltaire influence for something more along the lines of JD Salinger. Catcher in the Rye casts its troubled teen into New York City, where he wanders aimlessly for hundreds of pages. But in "Stick It," the troubled teen competes in the national championships of gymnastics. Which sounds more exciting to you? Score one for the movies, zero for literature.
I'm sure the Avril Lavigne generation will love this film. And frankly, I've seen a lot worse. As long as this type of film has to exist, it's good to know that some moderately witty, talented people get behind them every once in a while.
"Stick It"
Opens Friday
Grade: B+
