Gymnastics is always entertaining during the summer Olympics, so why is it such a drag in "Stick It"? It's one of those sports that most of America becomes interested in once every four years, like figure skating, track and field or competitive ping-pong.
The igniting and extinguishing of the Olympic torch could practically be a metaphor for America's similarly evanescent interest. But movies like "Cool Runnings" ("Jamaica, we have a bobsled team") and "Chariots of Fire" (cue the now clich?©d theme music) have succeeded before in making Olympic sports popular beyond live network coverage, so "Stick It" should be a blast. Right?
Not so much. In an attempt to draw on the valuable teenage demographic, writer/ director Jessica Bendinger (the scribe of "Bring It On") spends most of "Stick It" flipping the sport into a crisply-packaged music video tutorial about grrl power. That spirit is exemplified in "Stick It"'s angry lead. Rebellious teen Haley (newcomer Missy Peregrym) likes to wear lots of camouflage and ride her bike off things that she should not.
After a stunt at an under construction McMansion lands her in court, she receives a wholly unrealistic court-ordered punishment. In a scene that might as well include a flashing neon sign with the word "PREMISE" on it, Haley is sentenced to "time" at an elite gymnastics school. Jeff Bridges plays its gum-chewing, popped-collared proprietor, Burt Vickerman, as a kind of polo shirt clad Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Haley is initially resistant (to say the least) to the idea of restarting her gymnastics program. Apparently, she walked out on the gymnastics World Championships, costing Team USA the gold. If the film were to explain her reasons for abandoning her country and sport sooner, her teen angst would make a lot more sense. Instead, the movie waits far too long to explain why she snaps at every single person she meets; she becomes so abrasive that the audience is hardly given any real reason to like her, aside from her occasionally sharp wit.
By the time the film reveals the cause of her angst - and suffers many a training montage in the process - "Stick It" has already become another movie entirely. What started as a series of music montages on extreme biking and dumb girls in leotards becomes a movie about gymnastics, or close enough.
It settles itself down and cans the flash to reveal the gymnastics world's nasty undercurrent, complete with villainous and vengeful judges and the worst kind of show moms. It no longer matters that Haley's fellow students all seem to share a singular brain cell until she becomes willing to share hers. Even if you hate Haley during the first act or so, you find yourself rooting for her and her sweet, if misguided, teammates.
No matter how impressive the gymnastic stunts are, the actor who steals the film is the one who stays away from the vault. Mind you, Peregrym is decent as an actress and impressive as a gymnast; she's kind of like a sarcastic Bridget Monynahan who can tumble with attitude.
Jeff Bridges' scenes, however, are the real delight of the film. He is as tough as the heroine, but seems to have more of a reason for his thick skin. His acidic chemistry with Peregrym makes what could be a very contrived coach-athlete relationship into a very believable one. The most memorable of the other pupils, Vanessa Lengies (of "American Dreams" - not the Hugh Grant movie, the TV show), Haley's initial rival, is bitchily sweet. Joanne may be dumb and manipulative, but she's also sympathetic.
The film mainly gets deductions because of its direction. Bendinger made cheerleading relatable and interesting in "Bring It On." Even those with no associations whatsoever to the sport could sit back and enjoy the acrobatics and high school drama of cheerleading. Although "Stick It" is in much the same vein, it never lets gymnastics be itself. Although the sport is entertaining enough on its own, the routines are too dressed up and quickly cut to allow the audience to appreciate the grace of the sport. "Stick It" is certainly not going to win gymnastics any new fans, but those who live life between back flips will make it their cinematic anthem, if only for a lack of any film alternatives.
