Bring It On (2000)

Sunny, happy Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) is the new leader of the Toros, the cheerleading squad of Rancho Carne, an affluent San Diego high school that has lousy football players but one hell of a cheerleading team. National champions, they're the ones who bring in the bodies to the football games with their award-winning moves and sassy grace, and they're poised to take their sixth national cheer title. Torrance's new reign as cheer queen, though, is cut short when she discovers that her snotty, duplicitous forerunner was regularly stealing routines from the East Compton Clovers, the hip-hop influenced cheerleaders of a poor inner city school, and passing them off as the original work of the Toros. Scrambling to come up with a new routine for the Toros--and do the right thing by giving the Clovers their due--Torrance butts heads with the proud and understandably wary Isis (Gabrielle Union), the leader of the Clovers, who wants nothing to do with a rich blond white girl, but does want to get her squad to the championships. Problem is, only one team can take home the national title. Who's it gonna be?

An unexpected box-office hit in the late summer of 2000, Bring It On is a smart, snappy teen comedy that bristles with good cheer (literally) and lively, down-to-earth characters. The story may be fairly predictable (who's going to win the big championship?), but director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jessica Bendinger have fleshed out their characters with formidable strength and provided them with sharp dialogue. Dunst is a radiant comedian, projecting warmth, determination, sincerity, and a sublime airheadedness, and Union is an impressive dancer and counterpart to Dunst, matching her admirably despite her limited onscreen time. An excellent young supporting cast rounds out the film, most notably Eliza Dushku (Faith of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Jesse Bradford (Steven Soderbergh's King of the Hill) as siblings new to Rancho Carne, who become Torrance's best friend and potential new boyfriend, respectively. All in all, a pleasantly surprising and intelligent teen movie. Don't miss the opening sequence, a hilarious send-up of all those high school cheerleading routines you had to sit through at boring pep rallies. --Mark Englehart Amazon.com

Love/hate.

I kind of love and hate Bring It On starring Kristen Dunst. Parts of this teen flick are clever and funny but after a few viewings of this film, you get pretty sick of all the cheerleading nonsense. Cute chick flick but fades with time, decide for yourself. July 4, 2008

Hot movie

this movie was actually pretty good. you would think a cheerleader movie would suck, well this movie proofs wrong. this movie was pretty good. June 17, 2008

A chick flick guys can enjoy

Bring It On is a chick flick, that guys can enjoy. The hot chicks includeing Claire Kramer and Kristen make this movie. Not only that but it's funny as hell and has a great plot. First time director Peyton Reed handled the film very well and even though he didn't have another hit film until 2006's The Break Up this is still his best. March 26, 2008

Bring It on, betch!! LOL

There have been three other Bring it On movies and none of them even touch the original. It's such a feel good movie and I'm glad I got the dvd for all the behind-the-scenes stuff. March 19, 2008

"Ice cold." 2 stars.

I love to hate this damn movie. Sure it was nice and pleasant the first two go rounds but now I'm sick of it. I'd rather watch any of the Spider-Man movies twice than this load of bullocks.

I appreciate it because Blaque a fun R&B-Pop band that is in hiding these days, Elisha and Gabrielle are in it. But that's not enough.

It's cheesy, and just plain stupid. A few studs are also in it which is cool. But that's where the fun ends.

Cover Art: C+
Story: C+
Characters: B-
Comedic Value: D
Length: D-
Overall: D-

2 stars. November 26, 2007

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