FIRED UP! (2009)
Stars: Nicholas D’Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, Juliette Goglia | Written by Freedom Jones | Directed by Will Gluck
Shawn (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen), the stars of the Gerald R. Ford High School football team and total ladies men, are dreading the prospect of another summer at football camp. Enamoured with head cheerleader Carly, Nick hatches a scheme for the two friends to quit the football team and join the cheerleading squad in order for them to make out with as many cheerleaders as possible… Finding themselves awash in a sea of gorgeous young women, the guys are having the time of their lives. That’s until Shawn falls for Carly (Sarah Roemer), the beautiful head cheerleader who is impervious to the duo’s charms. To win Carly over, the pair must come up with some surprising new moves to prove Shawn’s intentions before the all-important cheer competition finals.
The cheerleader movie, a staple of American cinema for years… In 2000 the genre was revitalised following the release of the Kirsten Dunst film Bring It On, now Fired Up! takes the genre one step further by combining the cheerleader movie with that other staple of American cinema – the gross-out teen comedy ala American Pie. There’s plenty to like about Fired Up!, the two leads D’Agosto and Olsen are instantly likeable as the affable women hungry football players and it’s a good job too as they carry the weight of the film on their shoulders, thankfully the pair have great comedic timing in the best buddy-movie tradition.
Whilst the story of Fired Up! is nothing new, one thing that does stand out about the movie is the dialogue.Whilst there is the usual attractive cast and the gross-out humour of the typical teen movie, the film also manages to pack in rapid fire humour and witty banter, with Olsen stealing the majority of the best dialogue as he did in the recent TV series The Loop. However the banter has to be witty as the film was targeted at the PG-13 demographic in the US, which means that a lot of the sexual references are more innuendo than explicit, that’s despite the over-use of the word “shit” – is that now acceptable language in a tween-friendly movie these days?
Fired Up! is the best cherleader movie since Bring It On. Whilst not enjoying the same success in the US, if you liked that film it’s worth seeing Fired Up! when it hits UK cinemas on July 10th. For those that are multi-region capable, the film is now available in an Unrated version on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com
*** (3/5)
