Bring It On

Dom Robinson reviews

Bring It OnDistributed by

Entertainment in Video

• Cert: PG-13
• Cat.no: 20960
• Running time: 99 minutes
• Year: 2000
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 20 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
• Languages: English, French
• Subtitles: English
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: Making of, Director’s Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Extended Scenes,Never-Before-Seen Home Movies of the Car Wash Scene, Wardrobe and Make-up Tests,”Did You Know That?”: Universal Animated Anecdotes, Music Video, Trailer,DVD-ROM content

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Director:

Peyton Reed

(Bring It On, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, TV: Back To The Future (Animated), Grosse Pointe)

Producers:

Marc Abraham and Thomas A. Bliss

Screenplay:

Jessica Bendinger

Music :

Christophe Beck

Cast :

Torrance Shipman: Kirsten Dunst
Missy Pantone: Eliza Dushku
Cliff Pantone: Jesse Bradford
Isis: Gabrielle Union
Courtney: Clare Kramer
Whitney: Nicole Bilderback
Aaron: Richard Hillman
Big Red: Lindsay Sloane
Sparky Polastri: Ian Roberts

Bring It On is easily the worst film I’ve seen so far this year.

I’m sure when I first read about this film I was promised a dark comedy whichinvolved cheerleaders – something with some nouse and not the unbelieveablybland offering presented here.

The Cheerleaders National Competition is on its way and five-times winnersToros look set to do it again, but this time their long standing captain andTori Spelling-lookalike Big Red (Lindsay Sloane) calls it a daythe reins fall on unsure blonde Torrance Shipman (Interview With a Vampire‘sKirsten Dunst) whofinds her work is cut out when fate deals her a bad hand. But it’s also dealtus one too because I couldn’t have predicted so many predictable occurencescoming together in one film.

As the film opens, Torrance falls in love with the new guy in town,Cliff Pantone (Jesse Bradford), but she’s already got a boyfriend,Aaron (Richard Hillman), who’s gone off to college a year ahead of her.Surprise, surprise, he’s cheating on her, but what does that matter if she hasa new beau of her own? Well, it matters to Cliff when he finds out she’s stillseeing Aaron, but while Aaron’s shown the red card when HE gets found out,there’s no such punishment for Torrance since teen-love for the good guysalways works out in a film like this.

When a cheerleader is injured and a replacement is required, they take on theugly duckling who turns into a swan, Missy (Eliza Dushku) and blow medown if she isn’t the brother of Cliff, which causes all sorts of niggles lateron until everything’s all sugar, spice and all things nice (!)

On top of the weight of insipidness, the girls’ victorious plan to win thecontest is blown sky-high because… departing captain Big Red stole all theirmoves from another team, from East Compton, an all-black team who use phraseslike “Hey girl”, that sort of attitude and you expect them to start shoutingabout getting down on the hood, etc. They’re plenty pissed and show da attitudewith their lead shouter Isis (Gabrielle Union).Yo! Get down with da ho, gurl(!) Pur-lease! It’s enough to give you a headacheas the enforced rivalry kicks in and our heroines have to learn a new routine,then the same thing happens again elsewhere courtesy of loony-tune choreographerSparky Polastri (Ian Roberts) and finally, when we get to thebig do at the end, everyone ends up happy friends.

Oh – and I didn’t know that cheerleading squad’s could contain men, so howmuch would you bet that one of them will turn out to be as camp as a row oftents? There’s also the token bitchy bitches in the form of Courtney (Clare Kramer)and Whitney (Nicole Bilderback)

I’m now screaming inside!

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After watching the film I’ve now almost lost the will to live, but I’llstruggle to continue with this.

There are no particular problems with the picture or sound but it’s notspectacular. The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 ratio and isanamorphic.The average bitrate is 7.69Mb/s occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound comes in both DD 5.1 and DTS 5.1 flavours for English, but Frenchis DD 5.1 only. The music contains many cheerleader chants.

There are quite a few extras, but if the film bored you as much as me wouldyou want to watch them? As well as the obligatory trailer, music video (byBlaque) and a making-of documentary, there’s a director’s commentaryfrom director Peyton Reed, plus extra footage in Deleted Scenes,Extended Scenes, Never-Before-Seen Home Movies of the Car Wash Scene, Wardrobeand Make-up Tests, a “Did You Know That?” section and DVD-ROMcontent which includes a screensaver and “cheer quiz”.

The 20 chapters are fine, there are subtitles in English, the main menu containsmusic but none of the rest do, nor are any animated.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALLReview copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

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