Bring It On is a high school cheerleading movie starring Kirsten Dunst. It was made at the height of the late 90s/early 00s teen movie boom and at what now looks like the peak of Kirsten Dunst’s popularity. What’s great about this movie, is it’s not a typical high school movie.
The Set-Up
Dunst plays Torrance, the new captain of her high school cheer squad. Disaster strikes in her first week as captain as one girl gets injured and the squad discovers that the previous captain stole all of their winning routines from a rival school. Torrance has to find a new cheerleader and create brand new routines.
Missy (Eliza Dushku) is a tough girl gymnast who tries out for the squad because the high school has no gymnastics team. Torrance chooses her as the new member over the squads’ objections. Missy has a brother, Cliff(Jesse Bradford), who meets Torrance in class one day. Torrance and Cliff have a mutual attraction despite Torrance having a college boyfriend. Cliff is a non-conformist obsessed with music. The story follows the team’s path to the competition and the interpersonal relationships between Torrance, Missy, and Cliff.
Why It’s Great
This movie breaks a lot of high school movie tropes. Torrance isn’t a shallow rich girl who’s a bitch to everyone; and she’s not the object of some poor nerdy kid’s affection. She’s a person who cares about cheerleading more than anything else, but also cares about other people too. Missy isn’t tough because she’s a bad girl with daddy issues. She’s just a cool girl who’s comfortable being herself. Cliff isn’t a punk or a nerd who’s always railing against the jocks. He’s just a guy who loves music and finds Torrance attractive. When he goes to watch Torrance cheer and Torrance becomes interested in his music, they’re not betraying their cliques. They’re becoming involved in their crushes’ interests, which is how relationships work.
There are a few stereotypes like snobby cheerleaders, horny high school boys, dirtbag boyfriends, and annoying little brothers, but those things exist in real life as well. The problem with most teen movies is that the entire casts are stereotypes. The overall picture of high school in Bring It On is much more realistic.
The movie is paced very quickly. It doesn’t get bogged down waiting for something to happen. Jokes, plot, and character development are happening in every scene.
The whole cast feel like fully developed characters. Gabrielle Union plays the rival cheer captain and only appears in a few scenes. But it feels like there’s a whole other movie going on around her.
The relationships between the characters feel fully formed as well. There’s a nice interplay between Missy and Cliff and Torrance and her little brother that feel like actual sibling moments. The romantic chemistry between Dunst and Bradford is great and all of their scenes together click.
If you like high school or cheerleading movies this is one of best of both genres. It still feels fresh compared to many of the other same types of movies from its era. If you are Kirsten Dunst fan, this is probably the best example of her pretty, popular, and nice persona.