I’m not really one for going to teen-centric comedies let alone one about gymnastics, but I was pleasantly surprised by it.
01. At the very beginning of the film, one of the dudes on the bikes (or skateboard? I can’t remember) was totally wearing my Communist Party t-shirt, so that rocked.
02. The main character, Haley, is secretly Hilary Swank’s younger sister. [Probably not true.]
03a. Jeff Bridges was the gymnastics coach. o_O
03b. Jeff Bridges isn’t really an actor, not really. He’s sort of just … Jeff Bridges in every movie. Sort of like Jack Nicholson. His character in this movie was pretty much identical to the way he played the President in The Contender. I kept expecting him to eat a shark sandwich or harass Christian Slater or something. [Christian Slater was not actually in Stick It.]
03c. Jeff Bridges. On a trampoline. JEFF BRIDGES ON A TRAMPOLINE.
04. Haley’s two friends were essentially Jay and Silent Bob, minus the silent part. Thus, they were the highlight of the movie. They were just completely idiotic teenage boys and it was fantastic without being annoying.
05. I died every time Joanna made some remark that made absolutely no sense (this was the required response, of course). Cardiovasectomy? OMG.
06. The movie wasn’t quite self-aware enough to really be considered satirical, but it had a lot of serious bite and didn’t rely on dumbing down the jokes in order to get some laughs.
07. I think if you need a comparison to another film, it’s sort of the Ten Things I Hate About You of this genre, and I say that as someone who loves Ten Things. It’s sort of fantastic in and of itself, and really is the cream of the crop when it comes to this type of film. Limited to this genre, I’d totally give it four stars. In the end, though, it gets three since obviously it can’t exist in the vacuum of teen schlock comedies.