Cheer we go again

Rating: 5/10 (28 February 2001)

Bring It On is the story of a championship-caliber high-school cheerleading squad in San Diego that learns some of its most popular cheers have been swiped from a less-privileged school in Los Angeles. The story centers around Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst, all grown up from Interview with the Vampire), who is named as captain of the squad at the outset of the movie, displacing the outgoing, aggressive Big Red (Lindsey Sloane).

Torrance is a forthright person, loyal to the cheerleading squad, full of pep and vigor, and unwilling to cheat to get her way. On her first day as the squad captain, one of the cheerleaders is injured - injured enough to miss any and all future practices, games, and tournaments. Torrance and her crew audition a few students - male and female, and some who aren't old enough to be in high school - and all appears to be lost until Missy Pantone, the stereotypical new-kid-in-school-who's-also-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracks, comes along.
After much ado and some obvious snobbery on the part of her fellow cheerleaders, Torrance accepts Missy. There's some reluctance on both parts. But before too long, Torrance learns (through Missy) that the cheers that have done so well for the squad for so long have been swiped from a tougher school in LA, one that's perpetually underfunded (conveniently). Oh, and Torrance is also slowly falling for Missy's brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford). Oh the complications of being a blonde cheerleader in San Diego! (Hold your cynicism, please!)
The thing is, according to the other cheerleaders, swiping cheers is standard operating procedure, so Torrance's ethics are overruled. But then when it comes time for the regional cheerleader tournament (yes, such a beast exists, albeit only in captivity!), they find that yet another squad has duplicated some of their own cheers. The San Diego squad does their own and is reprimanded by the judges.
Ok, there's your plot. Fill in the rest as you will. This ain't Shakespeare, folks. Ya gets what ya pays when you see this movie. Don't expect anything all that wonderful. Dunst, however, is a lot of fun as Torrance, and Bradford is her equal as her erstwhile love interest. I will sheepishly admit to laughing out loud at some of the lines in the movie, but overall it wasn't all that impressive. This might be a good movie to watch if you're doing something else, that is, as background material. As cheerleader movies go, it could have been worse (like Satan's Cheerleaders, from 1977).