OxfordPress.com

Grade: C-

Verdict: Not enough pep.

Details: Starring Kirsten Dunst. Rated PG-13 for sex-related material and profanity. 1 hour, 33 minutes.

Review: "Bring It On" is a comedy movie about cheerleaders. Somebody must have seen the pep squad in "American Beauty" and said, hey, there's a movie we can do.

And so they did.

Gee, thanks. You shouldn't have. Honestly, you shouldn't have.

Oh, "Bring It On" starts off just fine. There's this squad of midriff- bare, California-fresh cheerleaders performing a routine with a kick. "I'm sexy, I'm cute. I'm popular to boot," they chant. "I'm bitchin'. Great hair. The boys all like to stare."

But wouldn't you know it? It's all a dream. The real movie is about to begin. Cute, popular Kirsten Dunst wakes up in a sweat. See, she's Torrance Shipman, a pert and perky senior with a poster of Nancy Kerrigan on her wall and she's all nervous because maybe she'll be named her high school cheerleading captain or maybe she won't.

She is, of course, and then we the viewers are treated to 90 more minutes of cheerleading angst, cheerleading catfights, cheerleading pouts and cheerleading cheering. Feels like hours.

It's not that "Bring It On" is a really bad movie. It's just a lot lamer than it should be.

In this movie, cheerleaders spew forced banter in the locker room. "You put the lewd in deluded," one cracks. "Let's not put the duh in dumb," another says.

We learn that "cheerleading is life" (not fire, as "Survivor" must have lied to us).

Pretty much all the jokes fall flat. Actually, the funniest bit involves projectile vomiting. And what does that say about this movie?

Anyway, the story pits two rival schools' cheerleading squads in a we-hate-you showdown at the national cheerleading championships.

There's plenty of tumbling, butt shaking and boy cheerleaders tossing girls in all directions. A lot more than you or I could ever do.

The movie handles the rivalry without things getting too mean and it frankly deals with sexual stereotypes: all the guy cheerleaders aren't gay and all the girl cheerleaders aren't straight.

But, really, "Bring It On" is a movie that's just sort of there. Not too offensive. Not at all intriguing. It wanted to have the spunk of something like TV's "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom."

It just needed more work on its vim and vigor.

— Bob Longino, Cox News Service