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Capone Was Bent Over By STICK IT!!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
I was once told by a filmmaker that
the greatest compliment you could give a director about his film was telling
him/her that you couldn't wait to see what they came up with next.
Well, I'm
here to report that I'm not particularly eager to see what first-time
director Jessica Bendinger's next film is. Bendinger made a name for herself
in 2000 writing the fun, campy movie about warring cheerleaders Bring It On.
Since then, she has hurt me deeply with screenplays for asinine flicks like
First Daughter and the mermaid-as-bimbo disaster Aquamarine from earlier
this year.
Bring It On worked because in most ways it was poking fun at high
school films, but Bendinger has made a career out of writing vapid stories
about privileged teens and how they overcome such hardships as finding a
date or taking care of a mermaid. Her latest film, Stick It, I had hopes for
because it returned to familiar territory: hot high-school-age girls at war
with each other; this time the arena is gymnastics rather than cheerleader.
Oh yeah. Of course, the presence of Jeff Bridges gave me hope, as well, but
even The Dude can't save this irritating experiment in who can out-bitch
each other.
Television actress Missy Peregrym stars as Haley, a former gymnastics
protégé who dropped out of a major competition a few years earlier and
caused her team to lose the competition. Haley has since become a bad girl,
getting mixed up with the extreme sports crowd at school, whose greatest
crime seems to be dressing like homeless kids. Haley is arrested for
vandalizing and is forced to go back to her old gymnastic training facility,
led by Burt Vickerman (Bridges). Haley is sassy, disruptive, and completely
unconvincing as the academy's bad girl. All the other girls hate her,
especially the stuck-up Joanne (Vanessa Lengies), who engages is verbal cat
fights with Haley every chance she gets. Ultimately Vickerman convinces
Haley to train for real and re-enter the competition she dropped out of
years earlier.
Bridges character is probably the most fleshed out in Stick It, but that¹s
not saying much. We learn that he lies to many of the parents of his
students about the kids' chances of getting into the Olympics to keep the
money coming in, and that the only reason he agreed to allow Haley to come
to his academy was because her mother paid four times the going rate. We
also learn that he blew out his knee years earlier and hasn't trained
seriously since out of fear more than inability.
Although there are very few
people to like in Stick It, at least Bridges tries to give us a character
with something resembling a heart and soul. It's a noble effort, but the
writing here is weak and a hollow, and with everyone snipping at everyone
else for 90 percent of the film, you don't really find yourself with anyone
to care about. Even the lame feel-good ending where all the gymnasts in the
final competition band together for a common goal can't save the plot. If
anything, it just gives us more characters to hate in the form of a group of
unfair, stodgy judges.
I found myself getting more and more annoyed and
frustrated with Stick It as it dragged on to its inevitable conclusion. The
film features a seemingly endless number of music montages and girls in
skimpy workout outfits, but even these sure-fire attempts to win my heart
fell flat. None of this shocked me, but Bring It On was such a fun film, I
thought we might have a winner.
When will I learn?
Capone
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+ Expand All
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no im second or third
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no im second or third
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AICN's own Freddie Mercury. Right on brother-sister!
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Is Jessica Bendinger a bad princess or bad/spoiled/rich girl in real life. Seems like most of her movies have a theme: Bad cheerleaders, bad gymnasts, bad presidential daughters, bad mermaids...
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I just IMDBed her and it turns out I was right. Former model and 'creative consultant' on Sex and the City... *shudder*
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It's been less than two years since the 2004 Olympics gymnastics scoring scandal. it's simply TOO SOON for a film on this subject. The emotions are still way too raw.
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Your forgeting the obvious sequel Snakes on a Train
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"There's Mutha Fuckin' Snakes, on the Mutha Fuckin' Pommel Horse!!!"
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http://tinyurl.com/nby43
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potatoes review that helps me parcel out my limited movie going time. Now I can spend my time writing that Kim Richards come-back screenplay. Maybe Kim as one of Barker's Beauties.
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Good...ANSWER! I'm surprised no one here has mentioned the loveliness of little Vanessa, who outsexed Anna Faris in "Waiting..." If I ever see this thing, it'll be to stare at her--I trust that doesn't make me quite as bad as Monty...
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God, I loved "Life As We Know It". That was the best teen drama in years. But, alas, I was the only who watched it.
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Even I didn't go see it, and I saw 'Deuce Bigalow:European Gigolo' the day it came out. Probably shouldn't admit that. Sorry, gotta go...I'm getting shivers just thinking about how much I hate Schneider, and that stupid interviewer! Not enough customer service, my ass!!!
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Are you a masochist or something?
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Hell yeah, I'll stick it...
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She was flipping right and like she flipped and like she was flipping and like she flipped so then she flipped ok and it was like oh she's flipping and i'm like she flipped and
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