Stop Bringing It On

Bring It On (2000) probably ends my attempt to replace violent action movies with dance competition movies. I had basically no information about this movie so it surprised me - it isn't one of those sassy competitive dance movies (well, it kind of is) but it's a parody of them.

It stars Kirsten Dunst as new captain of the cheerleading squad for a rich CA high school. Her hunky boyfriend has just gone off to college and she's a little nervous - and when she pushes her group too hard, one of them breaks an ankle. As a replacement, she picks Eliza Dushku, a gothy gymnast who trasferred from LA. She is only interested because this high school has no gymnastics program. Dushku's brother is wry hipster Jesse Bradford, who Dunst has been flirting with.

When Dushku sees the routines that the squad has been using, she takes Dunst to an "urban" high school in LA, where a black squad. lead by Gabrielle Union, is performing the same routines. It turns out that the previous captain had been stealing their routines and that's how they had been winning so many championships. So now our plucky little band of rich, privileged white kids have to figure out their own routines.

A lot of the humor comes from that inversion - the cheerleaders are mostly stuck-up lazy bitches, tearing each other down and looking for the easy way out. However, Dunst in particular is solidly dedicated to her craft and to sportsmanship. When she finds out the black squad won't be able to make it to the championship in Las Vegas, she gets a sponsorship for them. And they turn around and throw it back in her face, getting sponsored by an Oprah-like talkshow host.

Finally, comes the big championship. Dunst's squad and Union's are the finalists - and that's when I realized: We weren't watching the real movie. The real movie is about Union's squad - they are the scrappy underdogs, whose drive, determination, and pure funk lets them succeed against all odds. We're watching the Rosenkrantz-and-Guildenstern-are-Dead-style look at some minor characters’ story. So Union wins and our protagonists come in second, but with honor.

Actually, this was pretty cute and kind of funny, although more grins than chuckles. The cast was good and they did most of their own cheerleading stunts. However, the stunts weren't quite thrilling enough for me. This really didn't push the same buttons a great martial arts or parkour movie would - or even a mediocre one. I'm officially giving up and going back to Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Unless anyone has any suggestions?