Released: 04/28/06

Viewed: 12:15pm 04/30/06

Starring: Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, Vanessa Lengies

Directed by: Jessica Bendinger

Disney Official Site of the movie

About the comic: Yeah, this actually happen with the trailer for Stick It. That line was so silly, and it’s meant to be, but Yeo got such a kick out of it. If I ever do catch her laughing at something lame I’ll give here the “It’s like I don’t even know you� stare. But instead of feeling shame she just laughs it off. It’s more fun than the comic lets on. On to the review.

Last weekend a group of friends and I got together to see MI:III and somehow Stick It came up. Irv was vocally upset that I had gone to see it without him. We’d joked about the movie earlier in the month but I didn’t take him seriously when he expressed an interest in the gymnastics with attitude movie. After his disappointment I said “Come on, no one would have really gone to see this movie with me.� Sure enough the majority of my boys spoke up to let me know how wrong I was.

And I can’t figure out why it was so appealing to half a dozen men in their mid twenties. Well, beyond the obvious bonus of girls in tights demonstrating how flexible they can be. In it’s favor Stick It is the directorial debut of Jessica Bendinger who scripted Bring It On, a movie with a similar theme and nearly universal foreign subject matter. Bring It On was able to break boundarys and appeal to the masses even when most folks knew little to nothing about competitive cheerleading. But could Stick It bring the same magic to gymnastics? Could it really be a contender?

Sort of. The day of it’s release I snuck out just after 1pm to see RV and was blown away at the crowd of Catholic schoolgirls coming out of theater 8 where Stick It was playing. Producers seemed to have reached their demo and even gotten a few good girls to skip class. As I braced myself for the comedy stylings of Robin Williams I thought to myself “This gymnastics crap is going to be huge.�

Sort of. Stick it came out of the gate strong and has made a respectable take in it’s first 2 weeks, but not enough to crack the 20 million dollar mark. It’ll hang tough in the top 5 for another week but will be buried quickly by the summer competition.

I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or not. The movie is only ok. I enjoyed the story and it was compelling throughout but a clumsy ending and poor translation of the sport made it difficult to get too attached. “Poor translation� is the wrong phrase. Everything is explained in detail and you quickly see the problems with scoring and discipline and how gymnastics is more about rules and less about ability. But as well as these finer points of the sport are explained, I just didn’t care.

Gymnastics is boring, no matter how hot the girls are.

It was my hope that Stick It would be a fresh young movie that makes a tired old sport sexy and fun, but it misses the boat completely. It misses “sexy� in the most awkwardly uncomfortable way. The girls are cute, I even admit to having a little crush on Vanessa Lengies who played the super sexy/almost 18 hostess in last years Waiting, but in the spandex and the ponytails… they look all of 12-years-old. It’s creepy, not sexy.

The fun could have been there but the strangle hold of Disney takes over and instead of the smart, clever and hip perspective we dreamed about we get smart, clever and hip – Disney style! I’m sure your mom will lean over at one point and say, “Oh my, these kids sure are rebels!� as you roll your eyes and sink a little deeper into your chair. What’s worse is how they destroy the devil horns. They throw up this rock and roll hand symbol so often and at the most inappropriate times that it becomes a mockery of the power behind the gesture.

They make the horns seem as cool as saying something is “Jiggy�. If this movie becomes a cult smash hit then the devil horns will be the new high five. Damn… I miss the high five.

The movie does give us Missy Peregrym who stretches her legs on the big screen for the first time as Stick It’s lead. Peregym is convincing as the bad girl forced back into the world of gymnastics after a brief hiatus of hanging with the cool kids and being extreme. The one on one scenes with Jeff Bridges could have gone either way, but she does a good job. Especially considering how corny some of that dialogue is.

Bridges was a surprise. A surprise that he was in it, really. Does anyone else have trouble not seeing The Dude when they look at Jeff Bridges? Anyway, they could have made his character a bad cliché of either too cool or too un-cool, but they tread the line pretty well. He’s not so cool that you emulate him, but he’s cool enough where you realize you could learn something from him. And he’s not lame. Well done.

If anything, it’s the ending that kills it for me. It’s too outrageous and too unbelievable. This group of girls rebel against the system that is too strict. They find a way to make it work for them, only there’s a price to be paid. What it comes down to is that the effort that goes into becoming an athlete of their caliber is not going to be thrown away with such ease. It’s not rational, even in a sappy Hollywood make believe utopia.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Part of me isn’t surprised it did so well right away. I mean even if I was the only one of my friends that saw it, there’s definitely interest. The 13-year-old girls of America have made their presence known; they just don’t have that much money. And unfortunately their attention will shift on Friday when Just My Luck comes out. Stick It will vanish completely. It is a good story though, certainly worth a rental. It just wasn’t as campy, sexy or fun as it could have been.

And it didn’t help me master the one-handed cartwheel, which has been my long-term goal. I still popped a finger and fell straight on my ass. Thanks a lot Stick It! Thanks for nothin’!

DVD Worthy?:

Nope. Not enough sassiness or sexiness to make it worthwhile, but I blame Disney for that. It’s family friendly and a nice story but the edge and the angst are done in a very safe, Disney way.

If you liked this movie check out: Bring It On

Bendinger’s major break through was in scripting Bring It On, a smart, funny, satirically skewed look at the world of competitive cheerleading. It was brilliant and original and a movie that somehow made people interested in something they previously couldn’t care less about. They slickly used sex and the loaded stereotypes of cheerleading in a humorous non-exploitative way, which is something Stick It was barely willing to explore.

Bendinger has unfortunately been heading down hill in the script department being attached to mindless fluff (First Daughter) and sentimental toothaches (Aqua Marine). Stick It is a step in the right direction, but you can feel those Disney restraints. You can also feel everyone in the theaters desperate hope for it to be anything like Bring It On.

Vote incentive:

Vote today and see me attempting a one handed cartwheel. Even in my own art I can’t manage to make that dream come true. One day. Thanks to everyone that’s been voting. You guys rock. Don’t forget that JLCM is at both Buzzcomix and Top Web Comics 100 lists!