STICK IT / Jessica Bendinger (2006)

April 21st, 2006 by Scott Marks

Jeff Bridges and Missy Peregrym in STICK IT (2006)

Stick It (2006)

Directed by: Jessica Bendinger

Written by: Jessica Bendinger

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Sport

Cast: Jeff Bridges, Missy Peregrym, Vanessa Lengies, Nikki SooHoo, Maddy Curley, Kellan Lutz, John Patrick Amedori, Mio Dzakula, Svetlana Efremova, Jon Gries, Gia Carides, Tarah Paige, Polly Holliday, Julie Warner, Annie Corley

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Running Time: 105 min.

If you have zero tolerance for teen no-brainers, keep clicking. If not, you just may have some dumb fun at the movies.

On paper, Stick It had the makings of just about everything wrong with contemporary cinema. You have a major actor (Jeff Bridges) claiming to have accepted the role because he thought his three daughters would like it. (Hopefully it had more to do with the enormous paycheck attached.) Critics are forced to develop a tolerance for teen comedies, but for every 10 Things I Hate About You or Slackers, you have to crawl through hours of apoplectic sludge like Date Movie or Waiting.

Most damning of all, this is one of those sports films in which participants train for a last-reel competition. Stick It is basically a reworking of Million Dollar Baby without all the death and dismemberment. Cast a bankable elder statesman opposite a Hilary Swank lookalike (Missy Peregrym), substitute gymnastics for boxing and you have a hit.

Haley Graham (Peregrym) has a brush with the authorities for trashing a vacant house with her skateboarding cronies. It’s either Juvenile Hall or eat crow and take a stretch at a gym camp that she overtly abandoned years ago. Her coach is Burt Vickerman (Bridges), a smug, gum chewing huckster who claims to know what’s best for his kids while puffing up their parents with unattainable Olympic dreams.

First time director Jessica Bendiger wrote the script for the dopey box office hit Bring it On. She is a much more interesting director than writer. From the colorful opening credits, there is a sense of energy that she manages to maintain throughout the picture. Even though her characters are all one dimensional, Bridges and Peregrym come to her aid with credible performances.

The dialogue is wretched for the most part and poor Vanessa Lengies, the snooty one on the squad, is called upon to read a lot of lame one-liners. She does get off one shining delivery after noticing Missy talking with two male friends. Forced by a controlling mother to devote 100% of her life to her routines, she walks wide-eyed over to Peregrym and with awe-struck wonder asks, “You know boys?”

So if the script stinks and the story’s mediocre, why bother? There are a few lively CG enhanced musical numbers with overhead tributes to Busby Berkeley, and how can one help but laugh when they see a hip dude satirically sporting a “World’s Greatest Grandma” hat. Admittedly, the film could have withstood a bit more tomfoolery and a little less rigorous training.

What’s really different about this movie is its anti-competitive sports agenda. Bendinger sees through the hateful system of judging teens solely on their ability to shove a ball through a hoop and does a commendable job of hammering away at the petty conceit of “Elite Gymnasts.” Suffice it to say that this is not a film content to end in victory.

It is so seldom that a movie of this caliber even attempts a fresh message. Go in expecting flashy eye-candy and stay for the condemnation.

Rating: