Sweatermonkeys

Rating: Null/10 (9 August 2001)

Spoilers herein.
This a deeply selfreferential film.
Recently a comment of mine prompted a response from the writer of the film. He claimed that the studios only accepted formula scripts and his hands were tied. This script belies that. It is heavily formulaic -- pretty stupid actually -- but underneath the writer did something clever.
This is a collection of performers who are presenting material that is flat stolen from more genuine innovators, and that's the story as well! Then because it is too obvious, it is reinvented following an LA formula, but that's found in many films (and in the story, many cheerleading squads), so they `reinvent' again by borrowing from whatever they see.
The film is about its own triteness. Pretty cool. I'll bet that this first-time writer is a bitchy redhead.
But there's another thread too, about the vacuousness of spirituality. Early on, Torrance defiles a totem, the spirit stick, of a group of performing Christians (think `Omega Code,' or `Left Behind') and feels cursed to `hades.' Torrents. A high school boy clutches his crotch and says `try this spirit stick.' Then the LA guru, Sparky gives them `spirit fingers.' But that proves superficial. By the end, they `get the spirit,' the team spirit and the spirit of true sportsmanship. A lotta spirits wouldn't you say?
There's final cool deal on the DVD. An early scene was intended to be a very long tracking shot in the locker room. It's on the DVD as an extra. The director's comment says it isn't in the film because after 21 takes they couldn't get it quite right. Then he says he was copying Scorcese. I suspect that moment was scripted to make him seem a nitwit. (It's DePalma's famous tracking shot in `Carrie' he was stealing.) Priceless, and fit the whole deal.