Bring It On (2000) User Reviews

Flimsy stuff done rather well

[Chris_Docker · 5/10 · 22 October 2000]

This is a movie where more talent than necessary has been invested in a film basically aimed at entertainment-seeking adolescents, people interested in dance routines, and a few older men who enjoy watching young girls jump about. It follows the fortunes of an award-winning cheerleader team and the hapless football team they support.

A film about cheer leading, something that is, as far as I know, a uniquely American phenomenon, sounds pretty cheesy. The remarkable thing is that the acting and dialogue raise it a bit above the minimum required and the cheer leading dance sequences are a revelation for anyone who thought it was just about waving arms in the air and shouting support for the football team.

Gabrielle Union (10 Things I Hate About You) and Kirsten Dunst (Drop Dead Gorgeous & Virgin Suicides) were both cheerleaders at school - did this help with the authenticity? The amazing routines are quite dazzling to watch - requiring a very high level of stamina, physical fitness, athletic ability and dance technique. The overhead panning brings them almost to the level some of the old song and dance movie scenes with synchronized dancing. Synchronized dance in itself is difficult stuff, but fast paced synchronized dancing (to a great soundtrack, by the way) involving major aerial throws, difficult jive moves and lots of personality thrown in, is quite an achievement.

The film never takes itself too seriously, from the football announcer who says at the end of the match, "our next defeat is scheduled for next Tuesday", to the out-takes while the credits roll, the attitude is firmly tongue in cheek.

The script includes plenty of teenage bitching reminiscent of Clueless (adolescents often seem to show their intellectual prowess at clever, and often vicious repartee, that is all par for the course), but the acting is convincing and even the awkward issues of race and homosexuality are handled well. One cannot but help congratulate them for making a good film out of such a flimsy premise.

Cheer-Worthy

[great_sphinx_42 · 7/10 · 7 March 2001]

Interestingly enough, one of the most tired and boring cliches in both film and high school has been the subject of two genuinely enjoyable, if fluffy, movies in less than a year. I speak of course, about cheerleaders and both 'Bring It On' and 'Sugar and Spice'. But while 'Sugar and Spice' was campy and surreal, 'Bring It On' is a self-consciously serious movie advancing the idea of the cheerleader as athlete. While this idea is an honest and accurate one, it's one that audiences will only take so far. Cheerleaders may indeed be finer athletes than those on the sports teams they cheer for- I'd believe it, although I've never been a cheerleader and only rarely watch them on ESPN. I do know, though, that 'sissy, girly' activities are very frequently more difficult than 'tough, manly' activities, but try telling the boys that- or a movie audience. No matter how many big-budget and/or 'true story' movies are made wherein football is a metaphor for life or boxing is an affirmation of the greatness of the human spirit, even the most fascinating stories about sports like gymnastics or figure skating are strictly television movie-of-the-week fodder. In this atmosphere, you cannot make a cheerleading movie serious. You have to make it a joke. The smart folks behind Bring It On, though, realized that if they could strike a certain balance they could fulfill expectations but also get their point across. So they filled their flick with cute, peppy girls like Kirsten Dunst- always a delight, and well-cast here as a golden girl with a conscience- and snappy, irreverent jokes. They have a PG-13 locker room scene and a bikini carwash. They also have broken bones and high stress- very real factors in the lives of competitive cheerleaders. The squad is co-ed, and we get to know two of these curious, maligned creatures commonly known as male cheerleaders. One of them *is* gay- and an extremely well-adjusted, likable and "non-faggy" one, at that. The other is straight, and as horny as any frat boy in Animal House. We also have a tough girl named Missy transferring from L.A., along with her cute brother Cliff and the news that the Toro squad's cheers are not "100% original", as they had believed. Unfortunately for Kirsten's character Torrance and her Rancho Carne Toros, their ex-captain stole all their prize-winning routines from an East Compton squad (which are perhaps overly rude, even given the circumstances), that will be going to Nationals for the first time. So what's a cheerleading squad to do, except experience various pratfalls on the way to coming up with their own routine and competing and learning something about valuing your own strengths? It's better than it sounds, surprisingly- and refreshingly- enough. As for macho posturing at sports movies, the fact that this was a sueprise hit and 'Sugar and Spice' was not might just be a sign that there are audiences too smart to believe that any movie about female athletes must automatically be completely silly. What a surprising- and refreshing- change.

Fresh, intelligent, fiercely self-aware comedy.

[the red duchess · 6/10 · 6 February 2001]

This delightful comedy uses its ostensible theme of cheerleading rivalry to comment on its own genre, the teen movie. Given a genuinely exciting reinvention by 'Clueless', and reaching a peak with the likes of 'American Pie' and '10 Things I hate about you', the genre is in danger, as all successful genres are, of exchanging its wit, visual exuberance, engaging playing and agreeable sentiment for cash-hungry formulae and all-round laziness.

'Bring it on' falls into neither of these traps, but is aware that its genre is exhausting itself, and raises a number of pertinent issues. do filmmakers, like the Toro cheerleaders, continue their success by ripping off others' tricks? Is it possible to be original any more, or is the best we can hope for a clever spin on older, wider sources (this, of course, applies to cinema and all art in general)? Most pertinent, and 'Road Block' had already touched on this, is it time we jettisoned the toothy, white, middle-class young, and their oh-so-harrowing traumas, and allow a more representative teen demographic into the tacitly racist genre?

'Bring it on' may not entirely escape this last accusation - the black cheerleaders have no real humanity of their own, we are not given the same insight into their backgrounds and personalities as the white girls, beyond catch-all under-privilege. They are a mirror in which the whites can examine their complacency or flaws and correct them - literally so in many scenes, where the whites 'reflect' the blacks' movements, and the latter distort them in return, thereby commenting on them.

However, this touchy racial subject matter has a major benefit on the narrative arc. The plot is the old stand-by: a team of underdogs against the odds, triumph against circumstances and expectations. This would be tiresomely formulaic, except there are two teams in the film with equal claims on our attention and sympathies - it would be unthinkable for a Hollywood film today to have poor black people lose against pampered whites, but every stylistic decision - the humanising of characters; the rites of passage and socialising-of-misfits narrative; screen-time etc. - favours these whites. This creates a genuine tension, added to little asides (such as Torrence's brother's T-shirt, 'Cheerleading = Death') that make a familiar narrative interesting, problematic and unpredictable.

This is not to deny the familiar pleasures of the genre - the beautiful, clothes-shy young stars (the film gets to leer and satirise such leering!); the witty dialogue and bitchiness; the screenplay sharp about traditional issues of power and community; revelatory, stylised dreams and memories; the unforced energy. 'Bring it on' is a rare instance in the last few decades of a musical, and the various cheerleading routines are exhilerating and inventive, revealing to many a hitherto hidden purpose of a much maligned group, while still retaining the right to tongue-hollow that cheek. (AND a Shakespearean finale, where the actors come back after the curtain, and show us it was all play).

Energetic, Well-Scripted Fluff

[d_fienberg · 20 February 2001]

"Cheerleaders are dancers who have gone retarded," says Sparky, the modern dance-influenced choreographer who from $2000 dollars a pop teaches cheerleaders the mysteries of Fosse-inflected "happy fingers." Bring It On, which was a surprise hit in the fall of 2000, clearly believes that cheerleaders are far more than hoofers gone to seed. Despite the frequent jokes at their expense in the film, Bring It On shows cheerleaders are spirited, athletic, graceful, and most importantly, relevant to the 21st Century. Colorfully shot, attractively cast, and snappily written, Bring It On is hardly a great movie, but it's perfectly appealing for most people and I'd guess that the millions of cheerleaders and former cheerleaders nationwide will get a lot more out of it.

The plot is simple. It's like Rocky. Or Varsity Blues. Or any other sports movie you've ever seen. New captain of the five time national cheerleading champions Toros, Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) is shocked when the new girl on the squad (Eliza Dushka), a gymnast, tells her that all of the routines that made the squad famous were stolen from an inner city school in East Compton, two hours up the coast. Determined to prove that they can do it themselves, the Toros go through a fairly short journey to self-empowerment. There's a pounding bass line, lots of teens in short skirts, some fun flipping, and a lesson about being true to yourself and believing in others.

The film also takes on any number of myths about cheerleaders. Are male cheerleaders all gay, or do they just like grabbing girls' rears? The answer, of course is a little from column A and a little from Column B. Are cheerleaders all airheads? Well, the issue of whether or not these girls go to class is done away with in two minutes at the beginning of the film. From that point on, education, books, and homework are never mentioned. Any occasional signs of intelligence are held up to ridicule, though these "sweater puppets" are all quick with a witty retort, so they must have something going on upstairs. And finally, is cheerleading a sport? Well, this film comes out firmly on the side of yes.

For all of its verve, Jessica Bendinger's script is too reductive for the movie to be taken very seriously. The white girls are obviously upper scale and spoiled. Naturally the white girls don't have any sass at first and naturally they borrow it from their African-American neighbors. The black girls are supposed to be poor. Not that that's really depicted in this day-glo colored world.

In fact, through the wonders of Hollywood Central casting, the squad from East Compton actually looked even more racially homogenous than the "Buffys" from San Diego. This is an inner city high school that has a cheerleading squad featuring a dozen girls with identical light complexions and straight hair. The racial assumptions at work here would be offensive if the movie placed any premium on reality. Instead, as directed by Peyton Reed, everything is colorful, glossy, and easy on the eyes. The intricate cheerleading routines are mostly shot from strange angles or awkward close-ups to make it impossible to tell if the cast is actually doing any of the cheering stunts at all.

When Kirsten Dunst makes good small movies (see The Virgin Suicides or Dick), nobody goes to them. So I suppose it's fitting that this movie was a smash. She's always an entertaining screen presence and for now she's still young enough that it isn't ridiculous for her to keep playing high school characters. How her career progresses as she matures remains to be seen. The rest of the cast seems like they were picked from the set of a WB series. Now since I kind of like a number of WB series, I don't mean this as an insult in any way. The Warner Brothers network has proven a good training ground for attractive young women to read catchy dialogue and everybody in Bring It On seems very skilled with the zingers. And as the aforementioned Sparky the choreographer, Ian Roberts is just hilarious and his scene is easily the funniest part of the movie.

In the end, Bring It On is fairly satisfying. It's also amusing to note the strange directions that this movie is able to stretch the limits of the PG-13 rating in terms of language and certain forms of implied sexuality. But that's neither here nor there. Bring it On gets a not-to-be-ashamed-of 6/10 from me.

Predictable fluff, but bright and energetic fluff all the same

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 19 October 2010]

While Bring it On is not a masterpiece in any shape or form, I have to admit I really enjoyed it. Sure it is fluffy and predictable, with clichéd characters and scenarios, but when you look past the flaws you have a bright and energetic film with a fair amount to redeem it. For instance, it is beautifully filmed, and also has an agreeable soundtrack and sprightly cheer-leading choreography. The dialogue is smart and doesn't feel cringe-worthy or inane, the pacing is snappy and direction is decent. The performances from the cast are very spirited, especially from Kirsten Dunst who is appealing in the lead. In conclusion, not brilliant but energetic and dare I say fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

May the best moves win!

[michaelRokeefe · 6/10 · 29 August 2001]

Torrance Shipman(Kirsten Dunst)becomes the new captain of the high school cheer leading team that takes pride in winning competition championships year after year. She discovers that the cheers and routines for the last several years have been stolen from another school's squad. Torrance relies on a reluctant gymnast named Missy(Eliza Dushku)to convince the cheer team to learn new material to take to the next state competition. What a shame it is that the football team is so awful that the schools pride is in the cheerleaders. This is an interesting eyeful, but actually just another vehicle for the enticing Miss Dunst.

Fine support from:Pua Kapiolani, Tsianina Joelson, Clare Kramer and Nicole Bilderback. If you have a cheerleader fetish, you will think this romp deserves an Oscar. Nonetheless enjoyable.

Fun cheerleader movie

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 19 August 2014]

Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) is voted the new captain of the Toro cheerleading squad at San Diego's Rancho Carne High School taking over from Big Red (Lindsay Sloane). After Carver is injured, she picks rebellious gymnast Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku) to replace her. Missy's brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford) and Torrance develop chemistry. It should be straight forward to win the national championship for the sixth year in a row with their standard routine. However Torrance discovers that Big Red had actually stolen the choreography from an inner city squad the Clovers led by the Isis (Gabrielle Union).

It has the cutesy wacky sensibility of Clueless and the structure of a traditional sports movie. The sport just happens to be cheerleading. It's fun and it's silly. It has its irreverent moments led by a great performance from Kirsten Dunst. At least, there are a few more shades to the traditional dumb mean cheerleader stereotype. The lingo is hilarious. If the viewer is willing to be not so high minded, this cheerleading movie could be a bit of fun.

A Bevy of Attractive Actresses

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 20 October 2018]

This movie begins with a high school student named "Torrence Shipman" (Kirsten Dunst) being selected as the captain of the cheerleading team. Needless to say, this is a great honor. However, in this particular case the previous cheerleading teams have won the national championships for 5 years in a row and everybody expects this year's team to be no different. That being said, things start off rather badly when one of the cheerleaders is injured and put out of commission at the very first practice. Needless to say, finding a qualified replacement on such short notice is an extremely difficult task but, as luck would have it, just when things looked extremely bleak a new student by the name of "Missy Pantone" (Eliza Dushku) auditions and agrees to take the empty spot so that things can begin to proceed as normal. Unfortunately, just prior to their first competition Torrence learns that the cheers they have worked on for so long have been stolen from another school and to continue with them would severly impact their chances. Not only that, but the team who invented the cheers are extremely good and intend on proving themselves in the national championships as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an okay comedy for the most part with a few good laughs to be had here and there. Likewise, having a bevy of attractive actresses like Clare Kramer (as "Courtney"), Nicole Bilderback ("Whitney"), Gabrielle Union ("Isis"), Tsianina Joelson ("Darcy") and the aforementioned Kirsten Dunst certainly didn't hurt either. On the other hand, however, I must admit that some of the drama was a bit clichéd and the overall plot was rather predictable as well. All things being equal, I suppose it managed to pass the time well enough and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

A Terrific Movie For Teens of All Ages

[kljucec9 · 8/10 · 6 September 2000]

I thoroughly enjoyed "Bring It On". The film's brisk pacing was perfectly suited to its theme, thanks to director Peyton Reed, the writing smart, sharp, and consistently and authentically funny,(as well as, at times, genuinely thought-provoking)thanks to writer Jessica Bendinger, and the acting solid all around. I also liked "Bring It On" for what it didn't have-alot of tired, cliched boy-girl relationship stuff, and/or gratuitous sex/nudity. The opening dream/cheer sequence was a moment of sheer, brilliant comic/satiric movie magic, and later, when the professional choreographer shows up to help the Toros out, he almost steals the show. But what impressed me, perhaps, most of all about "Bring It On" was the wonderful chemistry between the two beautiful-and talented-young female leads, Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku.

I didn't go in thinking Bring It On will be winning any awards any time soon.

[chrisbrown6453 · 7/10 · 18 July 2001]

I actually only went to see it since it appeared at the time it would be the number one movie in the country. But much to my surprise it wasn't all that bad. Cheesy? Yes. Bad dialogue? Absolutely. Fun? I thought it was. It didn't take itself so seriously that it was horrible, and it took itself seriously enough that it was fun watching these kids cheerlead their little hearts out.

The plot... well the 5 time national champion cheerleaders from Rancho Carne High School in San Diego (they're the Toros) find out that all their award winning cheers were actually stolen from the cheerleaders at East Compton High (they're the Clovers). So now if they want to keep their championship dreams alive, they need to come together as a team and create their own, original cheer, and cheer like they've never cheered before. Lead by their captain Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst), the Toros make it back to the national championships, and go head to head with the Clovers to see who really is the best darn cheerleaders in the country. Yes, the plot is cheesy, but I think that was going to be a very obvious thing from the beginning. The movie is about cheerleading after all. Not that I have anything against cheerleaders, but a movie that centers around the trials and tribulations of cheerleaders is not going to have a serious and deep story. The dialogue was appropriately bad and yes, cheesy enough to make you wish that it were serious and deep. However when you have the bright, peppy and beautiful Dunst in the lead, how can you not smile and cheer right along with all of them?

Also along for the ride, one of my personal favorite actresses, the not-yet-but-soon-to-be-popular Eliza Dushku, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame. In my book, she's right up there as far as looks go. She plays Missy, the hardened transfer student who joins the cheerleading squad only because the school doesn't have a gymnastics program. Making her start off as a bad-ass, then saying she was a gymnast didn't feel right to me. But she comes around pretty quickly and she and Torrance become fast friends. Also, since this is a teen dramedy, Torrance and her off to college boyfriend have problems, and Missy's brother Cliff is right there to help Torrance out with all her cheerleader angst. OK, so obviously the only reasons any guy would go see this movie is because either his girlfriend dragged him along, or because he wants to see a bunch of girls in cheerleader outfits, and tight clothing. And really, can you blame him? The girls are attractive, and putting them into various stages of dress, and undress, certainly can't hurt the grosses. Locker room scenes, bikini car wash scenes, and of course the cheerleading scenes were worth the price of admission for me (which of course was only $3.75, one of the perks of living in suburbia).

The soundtrack was pretty cool, and the dance/cheerleading sequences were actually quite well done. And the fact that the movie never wavered from its position that to these girls (and some guys) cheerleading was very important. To a majority of us who have never cheerleaded, it's easy to say that it's not anything to get worked up about, but I look at it like if you said that to a football player in a Texas high school, you'd probably be shot on sight. Cheerleading is important to the cheerleaders, and that's what this movie was about. Cheerleading. And hot girls in cheerleading outfits. Sorry, I am a guy afterall.

So overall, yes Bring It On is cheesy with some over the top dialogue. But it also has some good music, some good cheerleading scenes, and of course, it has the girls. It's not something that is going to be heard over the microphone at next years Academy Awards, but I thought it was just good summer fun.

A big waste of time

[tripwires · 2/10 · 13 June 2001]

I'm so glad I missed "Bring It On" in the theatres. I saw it on a plane on my way to Australia, and it bored me so much I almost fell asleep. Yes, "Bring It On" is not supposed to be a deep, dramatic movie, but come on! How more brainless can it get? The only good thing about this mess is that Sparky guy. Unfortunately he had too little screen time. Kirsten Dunst annoyed the living bejesus out of me; she over-shrieked, over-whined, and basically over-acted. Which is saying quite a lot since she didn't have much to work with in the first place. Like someone else has said this flick is very similar to "Coyote Ugly". See that instead, although I'm not a big fan. It actually has a *plot*.

(PS. I'm 14 years young.)

Classic cheer for the best teen movie and an original film

[ivo-cobra8 · 10/10 · 16 October 2015]

Bring It On (2000) is a underrated teen cheerleading movie with Kirsten Dunst and Eliza Dushku. It is my favorite high school teen comedy and I honestly don't care what anyone says about this film. A champion high school cheerleading squad discovers its previous captain stole all their best routines from an inner-city school and must scramble to compete at this year's championships. I love this film. Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) was the most memorable and my favorite character from my all time favorite actress Kirsten Dunst. I went trough high school watching this film. I love sport comedy films, like were Major League (1989) and I love this team sport comedy film. It was followed by four direct-to-video sequels, none of which contain any of the original cast members. Bring It on is original true, the best, cheerleading comedy in the film series.

I love this film and I always will, it is my favorite film of all time. At least it is much better than they are teen comedy this days. Jessica Bendinger wanted to mix cheerleading and hip-hop, the two tastes that taste great together, it's like peanut butter and chocolate, which she did. The choreography very beautiful, the dance moves were pretty good and amazing.

Long before "Pitch Perfect" became a hit franchise and every group of women became our #squadgoals, there were the Toros and the Clovers. Fifteen years ago this month, Universal released "Bring It On" into theaters, a low budget, high-school comedy about rival cheerleading teams that spawned four spin off films, a stage musical, and helped pave the way for the Barden Bellas, the McKinley glee club and many more The plot of the film centers on Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst), who inherits the position of captain on her high school's cheerleading squad and attempts to lead her team to a sixth national title. However, Torrance is informed by the newest team member, Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku), that she is in possession of a stolen routine. When the originators of the work vow to win, Torrance and her squad must go to different lengths in order to create an original performance.

The Toro cheerleading squad has spirit, spunk, sass and a killer routine that's sure to land them the national championship trophy for the sixth year in a row. But for newly-elected team captain, Torrance (Kirsten Dunst), the Toro's road to cheer glory stumbles when she discovers their perfectly choreographed routines were stolen from a hot hip-hop squad across town. Now the squad must scramble to find a new routine to compete in this year's competition.

I love this movie and I am not saying that as a blonde or a cheerleader! No offense : / This is the best Bring It On movie out of all of them. Kirsten Dunst in an amazing actress. This movie is funny, very cute, and the original Bring It On!

At Rancho Carne High School, cheerleading is everything to student Torrance (Kirsten Dunst), who aching to be named head cheerleader of school squad the Toros, continuing the aggressive pursuit of dominance started by graduating member, Big Red (Lindsay Slone). Requiring a new cheerleader to help fill a gap caused by an accident, the squad welcomes Missy (Eliza Dushku) to the team, though the new student isn't sure her cynical ways are a good fit, while her brother, Cliff (Jesse Bradford), welcomes the assimilation, attracted to Torrance and her indefatigable spirit. When she realizes routines established by Big Red are actually stolen from the East Compton Clovers, led by icy Isis (Gabrielle Union), Torrance loses confidence, requiring support from the splintered Toros and outside influences as she attempts to rebuild what was lost.

Director Peyton Reed and screenwriter Jessica Bendinger (who tried to reheat her formula for 2006's "Stick It") favor bigness when it comes to the antics contained in "Bring It On." Summoning blinding cheerleading spirit, the production turns the quest for trophies into a cartoon, complete with aggressive close-ups and screamed line readings, while the writing retains finger-snap timing and an interest in developing its own vocabulary (e.g. Torrance demanding that the Toros are not a "cheerocracy"), always on the go in terms of characterization and plotting (a mid-movie detour with the Toros and a professional choreographer harboring an obsession with "spirit fingers" is amusing).

The rating I am giving is 10/10 for been Entertained sport film. The film isn't perfect, it has flaws. The Toros cheerleading squad should have win on the end of the film and they didn't. That move hurt the film. In all the sequels all cheerleading squad team won in this film they didn't. The film is good because of Kirsten Dunst. Believe it or not, it's been 15 years since everyone's favorite campy cheerleader movie, ​Bring It On​, debuted. Kirsten Dunst, aka captain Torrance Shipman, appeared on ​The Late Late Show With James Corden ​last night and talked about her first major lead role. "None of us knew it would become a hit," she says. "We were just a couple of young people in San Diego making a Universal film no one cared about.

10/10 Grade: A Studio: Beacon Communications Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, Jesse Bradford, Gabrielle Union, Clare Kramer Director: Peyton Reed Producers: Marc Abraham, Thomas Bliss Screenplay: Jessica Bendinger Rated: PG-13 Running Time: 1 Hr. 38 Mins. Budget: $10.000.000 Box Office: $68,379,000

A Teen Flick With Spirit

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 25 May 2020]

Those who think of cheerleading only as it relates to game day rooting from courtside or the sidelines will find this film a good introduction to competitive cheer, where cheer teams compete, using aspects of gymnastics and dance as well as encouragements of audience spirit.

The story is about a suburban cheer squad that has to redefine itself in the face of the year's biggest competition. The usual teen tropes are included, so it warrants a C-plus for originality. There is plenty of angst, but no acne.

But some good cheer choreography gives the film credibility. And a great message about good sportsmanship (when the team captain takes steps to assure that they will compete against the best) elevates the film.

Another plus is the trio casted for three central roles: Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union.

Well that's two hours I'll never get back.

[eladius monk · 3/10 · 29 September 2000]

Apparently the other people reviewing this movie didn't see the same movie that I did. Good wholesome fun for all ages? Sure if you want your children to grow up to be a bunch prattling idiots. The main characters self admitted lack of interest in anything academic, other than jumping around like a scantily clad moron, isn't what any sane person would call a good role model. The only high points of the movie are the cheer routines themselves which do show the athletic side of cheering, unfortunatly the cast has to open there mouths and ruin that to. Save your money and tune into ESPN 2 for the national cheer competitions.

Bring it on! I will defend this semi-dumb comedy film about the world of competitive cheerleading, any-day. It's a guilty pleasure of mine. It's pretty good for what it is.

[ironhorse_iv · 6/10 · 26 October 2017]

Yes, I know, a lot of critics might dislike this movie for its conventional and formulaic mid/late 1990s comedy sport film's plot of two rival school teams going head to head in the national championship, but I found this movie directed by Peyton Reed & written by Jessica Bendinger to be, unique enough to stand out on its own. One of the big changes, they did, was, not make the rival team, into stereotypical ruthless bully jocks. No, the team led by the Isis (Gabrielle Union), are mostly kind to their competitors, and don't really take, any short-cuts, in ruining the protagonist's chances of winning, even after they find out, that Torrance Shipman (Kristen Durst)'s team, stole their routine. It's kinda of a relief, because this movie could had gone badly, with the generic, 'good vs evil' clichés sport flick route. Nevertheless, I could do, without the rich vs poor class warfare, this movie was going for. In truth, San Diego & Los Angeles are surprising, not that far apart, both in numbers of the wealthy and the poor. Another thing, I would love to see, more diversity in both teams. Yes, there was a number of Hispanics & Asian-American in the Toro team, but the Clovers should had been more diverse than what we got. After all, East Compton has a surprising number of white people & plus, Hispanics make up, the majority of that city, based off the 2000 United States Census. Making the team, all African-Americans seem a bit stereotypical. Despite that, another thing, this film does so well, is have, all the actresses really trained for cheering, in order to avoid, the use of stunt doubles. They really do take, lot of difficult and risky move sets, so mad props to them, even if 80% of the dangerous dance/choreography, pyramids, stunting, and tumbling moves in this film are technically illegal & would end in disqualification, due to safety issues. I also love, how the filmmakers even involve physically mistakes in the film performance. It made the film kinda genuine, to see, our heroes still do mistakes, even in their greatest. I also like how charisma, humor, and personality shine through, with all the actresses. All of them, does a great job, both in acting and comedy chops. Lots of funny moments, throughout the film, such as 'Spirit Fingers' sequence & blooper reel, with actresses dancing and lip-sync to B*Witched's cover version of Toni Basil's "Mickey". Nevertheless, one thing, I had concern with this film, was the way, the filmmakers push the sexual aspects of cheerleading over the competition nature, a little too much. They should had ease up on the fanservice, a little bit. After all, they are still, underaged high school girls, and the high flying dance sequences should be compelling, enough. No need to make them, into sex symbols with the way too revealing outfits & men in horny little bastards. While, I didn't mind, the romantic subplot of Torrance getting co-captain, Missy Pantone (Eliza Dushku)'s brother, Cliff (Jesse Bradford). It wasn't really needed for a film, like this. Still, it's surprising, a sport film like this, was even made. It really could had turn into a really bad in sexual objectification to the point, 'Bring it on' could be, like R-rated sex comedy like 1984's 'Gimme an 'F', or worst, adult film driven film like 1978's 'Debbie Does Dallas'. Far below, what I call, entertaining films. Nevertheless, the popularity of the first film, did allow sequels to be made, none of which contain any of the original cast members, nor any good with 2004's 'Bring It On Again', 2006's 'Bring It On: All or Nothing', 2007's 'Bring It On: In It to Win It', 2009's 'Bring It On: Fight to the Finish' and 2017's 'Bring It On: Worldwide #Cheersmack'. For better or for worst, another thing, worth highlighting about 'Bring It On', is the exposure, it had, into bringing back street dance to the mainstream, after being, nearly forgotten, after flops like 1984's 'Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo' & 1985's 'Fast Forward'. It seems like, everybody in Hollywood was producing urban dance movies after this film. Not only that, but this film help inspire, other in-field, sport movie like- music competition such as 2002's 'Drumline' & 2006's 'Stick it'. If that isn't enough to lay claim, why this PG-13 movie is good. To a certain extent, 'Bring it on', also help increase the popularity in recent years to the point, that there is now an estimated 100,000 school team participants in cheerleading national competitions, throughout worldwide. That's really crazy! That's not counting the number of junior varsity teams, which some school has. Overall: 'Bring it on' deserve more credit than it got. It's a wonderful film. While, it's not the best sport comedy, out there. It's one worth cheering for!

A good mistake

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 12 August 2014]

So here I am, a 50 year old man who wants to see a movie starring Kevin Spacey who plays a teacher. That's all I know. I get to the theater to buy the ticket, look up at the marquee and see a title -- "Bring It On". That sounds like the title. About 30 minutes into the film I finally come to the conclusion that what I'm watching is not starring Kevin Spacey, although I kept thinking that he would eventually come into the film...it was in a school. So I almost decide to leave...what do I want with a cheerleader movie. But then I think, what the heck. It is kinda interesting, funny, enthusiastic. Might as well watch it since I already paid my $$$. Later I realize the film I was really looking for was "Pay It Forward", not "Bring It On".

I really enjoyed this movie. As a teacher/school administrator, I rather liked the way the kids were portrayed here...perhaps exaggerated a bit...but pretty much on target. A little raunchy humor, but not much...enough to be funny, not enough to offend. And a good story -- award-winning cheer leading team learns some lessons when they learn their cheers were all stolen from a mostly-minority cheer leading team who couldn't afford to compete nationally. Each team pulls itself up by the bootstraps and then comes the next national competition. Who will win? This was the first film in which I paid any attention to Kirsten Dunst, and she did very nicely here; very believable as the head cheer leader. I'm not familiar with Eliza Dushku, but she does fine here in a role as a sort of out-of-the-mainstream girl who reluctantly joins the cheerleaders. Jesse Bradford is quite engaging as her slightly eccentric brother. Gabrielle Union -- probably the most beautiful actress in Hollywood -- is great as the captain of the other cheer leading team...a little tough, but with just the right balance to be sympathetic. Nathan West is very good as one of the hunky male cheerleaders, as is Huntley Ritter, who plays a gay male cheerleader. The late Richard Hillman is very good at playing an obnoxiously (and fake) supportive two-timing boyfriend. Really, the entire cast does a terrific job, raising what could have been an obnoxious teen-movie into a very good motion picture. Kudos to the director and writer for making this a film that is better than might have been done with such topics.

A surprisingly good film that just downright fun...and far above the level you might think it will be. Recommended.

a surprisingly good movie

[monica555 · 7/10 · 20 October 2002]

I'm the type of person who doesn't really consider cheerleading a sport. so i avoided this movie for a couple of years, but eventually i decided that i should see it. After seeing this movie i couldn't believe how good it was. I mean it was good enough that i watched it again with in the next few days. So even if you are not a fan of cheerleading take the time to watch this movie.

Not Surprisingly Awful

[daveisit · 3/10 · 21 December 2000]

I went to this movie with such low expectations it could have surprised me but it didn't. It was exactly as bad as I expected it to be. It lacked funny material which was all that could have possibly saved it. The audience as a result was left with a story that a two year old could have developed more creatively. The acting was probably the best part of the movie, but don't be fooled, it was also awful.

Quite enjoyable

[Boyo-2 · 8/10 · 7 September 2000]

This movie was extremely enjoyable and I recommend it. The characters are not annoying for the most part, and I especially enjoyed seeing new faces Elisa Dushku (Missy) and Jesse Bradford (Cliff). They have screen presence and should be in front of the camera for many years to come, especially Elisa, who is really very beautiful. When you look at her, there's so much there, unlike most actresses whose faces do not say anything. You can tell there is alot going on in her mind just by her face.

The screenplay is intelligent and very funny and aside from a slow stretch or two, I really liked the movie. It is not like "Clueless" or anything else, which of course is a good thing.

One of my favorite scenes is when Cliff and Torrance (Kirsten Dunst) are brushing their teeth. Its probably a throw-away scene and there is no dialogue, but it was really great, for me at least.

What I want.

[brodieman1982 · 24 January 2003]

This was a wonderful creative, hip movie. Not wait I was thinking about something else.

On a scale of one to ten, it sucked.

The dialogue was cheesy. I didn't find anything funny. It's just the same stupid teen junk. This suppose to be a movie that promotes cheerleaders, yet I had a lower opinion of cheerleaders after I saw this movie.

I felt sick after this movie. I've never felt sick after movie before or since I saw Bring it On.

If you read this you might think that I'm overbearing male who doesn't like teen movies, you'd be wrong though. I find some of them enjoyable, this is not one of them.

If not for Battlefield Earth and Dungeons and Dragons, this would be the worst movie of 2000

I hate admitting how much I like this

[IAmTheEnemy · 7/10 · 10 August 2006]

This movie is cheesy, preppy, dumb, simple and BRILLIANT! Granted I saw this when I was 14, I thought this movie was fantastic. I think the main audience for this movie is girls aged 11 - 17(ish), but that doesn't mean it's bad. It's your typical teen movie/chick flick.

Performance wise, what can I say? If you've seen Eliza Dushku in anything before - her performance is exactly the same (which in this case is OK). Kirsten Dunst is good, but how hard is it to play a blonde, teenage, cheerleader? The basic jist is The Toro's are cheerleader champs. Torrence (Dunst) is the captain. When Missy (Dushku) joins the squad she points out that all their routines are actually stolen. The Toro's ex-captain stole them of the Clovers - the Toro's rivals. In order to win the championship, the Toro's must develop a totally original routine of their own, to prove the are the best.

It's as cheesy as it sounds, but it's ideal for a girl's night in. And there are quite a few funny moments. And if your young enough to get away with it, you'll pick up the cheers. No matter how much you try not to. And the cheer-leading routines in it are pretty impressive, too.

THE MOST DEPRESSING MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

[hireswell · 1/10 · 29 August 2000]

Seeing "Bring It On" was more painful than having my wisdom teeth removed!! How this film made 17 million dollars in one weekend is even more beguiling. Is this what teenagers today relate to or were there just a lot of dirty old men who wanted to be teased by scantily clad adolescents? This film wants to be R rated but stay safely in the PG-13 zone, so what we get are ugly camera shots that are positioned just above the frontal nudity format.

The plot: A 5 time national champion cheerleading squad has to redeem itself after it is discovered that their award winning routine has been stolen from a much more talented inner city cheerleading squad. It's supposed to be a comedy but the only thing that made me laugh was the fact that this film was made. The young characters are so absorbed in cheerleading that you wonder how they plan to make a living after they graduate from high school: they barely acknowledge the fact that they have classes to go to. None of them seem to have any genuine emotions and all of them are downright annoying. If these kids were in "Friday the 13th" people just might cheer for Jason.

As I was watching it I began to realize that each scene was getting worse and worse. Some examples. The laborious scene where the cheerleaders audition a new member for their squad: the captain insists on the weird girl while the other cheerleaders complain saying the process is supposed to be a democracy, their corrected and told it's a "cheerocracy". Then the captain is later referred to as a "cheertator". There is also the scene where a choreographer, who is recycled out of every dance movie ever made, trains the girls. Amongst other things he tells one girl to starve herself to get thin; that's just a wonderful idea to put into a teenage girl's head. Then there are the scenes with the inner city cheerleading squad that so tirelessly stereotype African American speech and manner that I was amazed that this film was released in the year 2000 and not 1950.

What's depressing is that as this movie played I actually heard young people laughing. This is humorous to them? Then I came to the conclusion that as long as they keep going to movies like this we'll keep getting movie like this. Perhaps one day there will actually be a film that shows what it's truly like to be a teenager and it might even star actors who aren't in their thirty's. Until then we're stuck with this AWFUL, TRITE, APALLING, HORRENDOUS, ODIOUS, REVOLTING, HIDEOUS, LOATHSOME, REPULSIVE, IMMATURE, NIGHTMARISH, HORRID PIECE OF TRASH!!!!!!!!

A guilty pleasure!

[Pro Jury · 10/10 · 22 March 2003]

This film does not aspire to be more than it is. Accepted for what it is, BRING IT ON is a perfect 10.

The quest here is the national cheerleader championships held each year in Orlando, Florida. In real life, the young competitors are tiny, thin-legged kids with braces. In BRING IT ON, all of the cheerleaders are fully developed amazingly nice looking So-Cal starlets. The result is eye candy perfection!

BRING IT ON has the right mix of good-natured fun and old fashioned sex appeal. A bikini car wash. Pajama sleep-overs. Cheerleader pom-poms every place! Each actress's smile lights up the darkest of nights. Pure American fun.

Speaking of fun, please don't miss the ending credits. BRING IT ON is an instant modern day classic that stands up to repeated viewings. Highly recommended for what it is.

Too Much Language and Sexual References Can Be Off-Putting

[eric262003 · 6/10 · 29 February 2016]

After watching "Bring It On", I was aghast at finding out that this film was rated PG-13. The reason for my analogy was that this movie may have opened up a plethora of films of this magnitude, this movie could have been inches away from being rated R if not for them taking out the sexuality or even the nudity for that matter.

I'm really saying this movie was entirely bad, it was fun to the point of being a guilty pleasure, but the demographics this film has an appeal to is towards the younger teenage demographics by contrast to the older age demographics. I might be getting old before my time, but if you want to show a film about cheer-leaders in their appealing clad apparel, utilizing sexual references through their dialogue, at least let it be towards higher education students. That way they can talk like that, get naked and make out with their lovers.

Kirsten Dunst stars Rancho Carne High School student Torrance Shipman who has now been appointed as Captain of their squad, The Toros. They have been an excellent squad except they've been duplicating their moves from an East Compton inner-city squad known as the Clovers. The Clovers are now heading out to the competition and Torrance gets reassurance from the rival squad who hires a choreographer to teach them new moves only to humbled at the regional contest when another team usurps them into doing their moves before they had a chance to compete. But before they surrender, there is still three weeks left for the Toros to rectify from their humiliation to compete in the nationals (they get a free pass on account of how good they are the previous years). Torrance motivates her squad to collaborate and to come up with moves so that they can get revenge and to smoke the competition off its feet. We also are treated to the schmaltzy boyfriend went off to college and there's a new boy in town story thrown in for good measure, along with the heated exchanges with the inner-city kids, there's the climactic question of is it cool to play fair or to cheat puzzlement and the homophobic question if male cheerleaders are gay?

So while there are tons of subplots, the cramming is very limited. If that's not enough, these kids seemed to have lost virginity at 13 years old because they seem to be experienced it and insinuate in the duration of the film.

Sure I like seeing competitive films about going against the odds overcoming the hurdles, even I found myself cheering during the competition, it was an enjoyable chick-flick. And though teens will likely indulge in a movie of this magnitude, but the overwhelming sexual references could've easily been omitted. And though the one- liners were laughable, still the Junior Highs will likely ask their parents the definition of "cheer sex".

If they would have cleaned up the overly utilized sexual innuendos and made it more about competition and the training leading up to it, then this movie would've been 10x better. Hell make them college students and that would appeal to older teens and twenty year-old people then it wouldn't have been so bad. If the cinematic community had the gonads they should implement an R rating.

Everything about this movie worked.From the competitive scenes to the love story and the bickering is believable and the teen angst is spot on. It's just a bit too dirty for my liking. The R rating should have been placed on the package.

Even adolescent boys don't enjoy it!

[axiom-8 · 1/10 · 27 August 2000]

I'm a 16 year old male. You'd think that no matter how bad the plot, no matter how shallow the characterization and acting, my demographic would enjoy watching a movie where 90% of the actors are regularly wearing short skirts. You'd be wrong. This movie is awful. It is a 2 hour long torture. There is no plot, there is no acting, there is nothing meritorious about this production in the least. Please god, save your brains!