Stick It

Starring:  Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, Venessa Lengies, Nikki SooHoo, Maddy Curley, Kellan Lutz, John Patrick Amedori, Mio Dzakula, , Svetlana Efremova, Jon Gries, Gia Carides, Tarah Paige, and Polly Holliday

Jessica Bendinger wrote the popular cheerleader flick, Bring It On.  Shallow but entertaining, Bring It On had plenty of smart-mouthed teens and loads of rousing cheer performances.  In her new film, Stick It, Bendinger wears the hats of both writer and director, and this new flick manages to be less shallow than Bring It On, and while shaky on character and motivation, excites with gymnastics jam.

When we first see our heroine, Haley Graham (Missy Peregrym), we don’t even know that she’s a young woman because she has enclosed herself in the costume of a rebellious teenage boy, one who is an extreme biker.  A few minutes later, sans boy chick clothing, a rather fetching young lass is running from the local law, and we learn that the bike-riding bad boy is actually a rebellious 17-year old girl who was once on the cusp of competitive gymnastics greatness.  A judge forces her back into that elite world as part of the restitution for her crimes, and Haley finds herself at Vickerman Gymnastic Academy, an elite gymnastics program run by legendary coach, Burt Vickerman (Jeff Bridges).  At first disdainful of the entire setting, Haley eventually finds an understanding ally in both Vickerman and her fellow gymnasts.  Now, they have to band together in time to take on a major championship event, which means more rivals, arcane rules, and erratic and unpredictable competition judges.

Bendinger builds Stick It around a single character (much as she did Bring It On), in this instance, Haley.  Missy Peregrym is surprisingly nimble, both physically and artistically.  Even when this movie stumbles (and it does), she carries it with the strength of her engaging personality and physical confidence.  In many ways, however, the flick stumbles all over itself.  Jeff Bridges seems to be an autopilot as Burt Vickerman, but even doing that, Bridges is still good enough to make the audience make at least a small invest in his character.  There are also many other interesting characters, but we only see glimpses of them.  It’s obvious that Bendinger took the time to develop them, gave them motivation, and enough back story to give them heft, but Bendinger’s script only uses them as caricatures (the evil “tennis mom,” the rival, the bitter former friend, the dad who just doesn’t understand me, the cool friend with the smart mouths, etc.) meant solely to drive Haley’s narrative forward.

Still, it all comes back to Haley, and Bendinger is blessed with an actress who can pull off the part, as Peregrym makes the center strong whenever what is around her is weak.  Bendinger’s cinematographer, Daryn Okada, and editor, Troy Takaki, also go a long way into making Stick It work.  If you remember how fun it was to watch the cheer performances in Bring It On, get ready for some dazzling gymnastics.  Okada’s photography and photographic effects and Takaki’s sharp eye at blending gymnastics and visual effects both bump Stick It out of mediocrity.  The gymnastics looked so good that I wanted more; I might even pay attention to it in future Olympics.

Stick It has dazzling displays of the female form sprinting, bounding, flying, and twisting over bars and through the air.  Short on cinematic power and grace, Stick It’s athletic exhibition make an average film a lot more fun than it would normally be.  It is in the last act that the film’s tagline, “Defy and Conqueror,” makes sense.  With a pumping and bumping soundtrack throbbing in the background, Bendinger allows the athletes, the ones who really count in competitive sports, to stand up for themselves, flaunt their value, and individually shine and show their stuff.  That makes Stick It worth seeing.

5

This review originally appeared at http://www.negromancer.com.