Not bad at all

Rating: 6/10 (27 September 2009)

According to me, this is an underrated teen comedy. Not many people I know have actually seen this, but I think it should get more credit for what it is.
Lighten up. It's supposed to be stupid, predictable, cheesy and whatever else.
A story about cheerleaders. Doesn't sound too interesting, because seriously-the only plot this film can have is a very cliché, predictable one. Exactly what I pointed out above. And it is true, the script isn't Oscar-worthy, but it has been turned into a film rather well.
The characters are stereotypical, which is stereotypical for teen comedies-we have the nice cheerleader, the bitchy cheerleaders, the gay male cheerleader, the cocky football players, the unfaithful boyfriendyou know the deal. Then we have the two new characters-Cliff and Missy Pantone. Cliff is very much into punk music and sneakers. Missy is an individual, tough chick who used to do gymnastics. They both see cheerleaders as stuck up and shallow. Missy ends up on the squad after shoeing off her skills at the try outs, and Cliff becomes our new love interest, resulting in out main character, newly elected team captain, Torrance Shipman being torn between her boyfriend and the new guy. Then we find out that the cheer team's award-winning routines were actually stolen from a different team. Oh no! Now Torrance, with the help of Missy, has to save her squad's honor and lead them to victory at the cheer contests.
The film begins with a cheer routine, with a song so catchy it will stick in your head for a while. The highlight of the film has to be the Sparky Polastri intro. But I won't ruin it for you. I enjoyed watching the cheer routines, this was the first film I had ever seen that actually concentrated on cheerleading, so it was quite interesting to see how the whole 'cheer-business' would be shown. It contained some good-tasted laughs and you could identify yourself with some of the characters, even if you found them slightly annoying in some moments.
Your cliché-alert will go off straight after Torrance gets chosen captain, and has to organise try-outs because a member of the squad falls off the top of the pyramid. It won't stop until the end of the film. Yes, the story is predictable. But it's a teen comedy-it has to be!