THE STORY: A tale of girls flipping over and girls standing up for themselves, this movie smartly defies expectations and overturns plenty of “lone wolf learns teamwork” sports clichés in its story of Hailey (Missy Peregrim), a gymnastics prodigy turned punk rocker who earned lots of black marks after she walked out on the USA games years ago. When she’s sent back into training as an alternative to reform school, Hailey must tussle with a gruff coach (Jeff Bridges) and a team full of snooty girls. But if the stage seems set for all the usual tears and triumph, guess again: screenwriter/director Jessica Bendinger (BRING IT ON) puts the punk-rock money where her mouth is, taking an unflinching look at the way coaches mislead overbearing parents, and the way constant pain, high risk of injury, and a capricious point system can crush rather than boost girls’ spirits. Clever, quip-packed dialogue flows nonstop, especially from Hailey’s immensely likeable male slacker buddies, and there’s even some Busby Berkley-style CGI-enhanced choreography amid the displays of athletic grace and prowess. The buff Peregrim should inspire lots of boy viewers to become fans of the game, and she works well with Bridges, a veteran at displaying dog-eared charm. Few sports movies have the courage to practice what they preach in terms of breaking free from conformity, and STICK IT deserves a medal just for that, but there’s plenty more to offer from this subversive yet celebratory winner.
THE REVIEW: Stick It goes wrong right from the beginning with Haley being written as a hard-ass. The filmmakers try to sell this by making Haley into a tomboy rebel and it doesn’t work. Imagine a girl is arrested for jumping her mountain bike and then being sent to gymnastics. It’s the most ludicrous setup ever. Even when we find out the obvious—that Haley was once a great gymnast—the show doesn’t get any better. What kind of punishment is being sent to a great gymnastics camp? How was this punishment? Imagine how much it would cost an ordinary person to send their child to such a camp?
Then we have to watch Jeff Bridges as the coach push the bad girl who is too good to quit. How many times has this been done in a movie? We always get the bad person who has a lot of promise and is pushed by some caring individual to reach their promise? There is not drama in the Stick It. It would have been great to get into some real gymnastics issues that might come to surface—but nothing matters in this little flick.
THE EXTRAS:
Read My Mind: Multiple feature commentaries – director and actors, director and filmmakers and the cast offer up very little except dead air.
“Buttaharas” – There are some not so interesting bloopers & outtakes.
“Skinny Fat” – This is a decent set of deleted scenes with two optional commentaries.
“Hard Corps” – A more interesting featurette where we get to see the real gymnasts who were stunt doubles.
“The Elites” – This featurette offers up the full gymnastics routines performed by some of the world’s best with optional commentary.
“The Judges’ Table” – This featurette features the uneven bar routines in slow motion with optional commentary.
There are two music videos; Missy Elliott’s “We Run This” and Jeannie Ortega’s “Crowded”
FRANKLY: Jessica Bendinger directs and is also the writer of Bring It On and she doesn’t bring much to the table. Actually Stick It feels like a watered down version of Bring It On. Stick It is a film about eye candy and not about substance—this might work for a teenage boy or girl—but not for me. It’s shot at an MTV pace and that makes it even worse.
+ Charlie Craine
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