Those aren't spirit fingers

Rating: 7/10 (29 September 2012)

Bubble-gum story about self absorbed cheer leaders vying for the prestigious school title where double-cross, corruption and plagiarism define a crooked "sport" that is more than just a curtain-raiser to the main game. Kirsten Dunst plays the "Toros" fearless leader, determined to bring home the silverware but only if it's earned fairly against the best competition, Union's ghetto-styled high school the best of the rest, but financially unable to compete. Predictably, all the planets align and the two face off in the competition for top honours and most honourable in the lessons learned department.
Dunst is undeniably appealing as the featherweight cheerleader who takes people as they come, Bradford is her would-be suitor (she has a boyfriend, albeit an unfaithful one), and personally I thought that Ian Roberts as the tyrannical dance consultant was the funniest moment in the movie; his sage tips on a cheerleader's optimal 'weight' and the correct dexterity needed for 'spirit fingers' will transcend the time it takes to forget the rest of this movie.
It's not the titillation-style cheerleader movie you might have come to expect, by-and-large a very wholesome affair that keeps the focus on the "sport", and limits the surrounding melodrama. While undistinguished, the youthful cast combine well and respectably, the film rarely drifts into parody, an honest entertaining high-school frolic.