The mid to late nineties was arguably the peak of teen comedies in Hollywood with plenty of high-quality films or long running franchises to choose from. But the 00’s saw a sudden decline in the output of that kind of content, with it instead being shifted straight to home video. One of the last few major successes in the theatrical space was Bring It On in 2000. It wasn’t as raunchy as a lot of its contemporaries, but it did bring to the spotlight a promising new director and proved the leading lady’s chops as an actress prior to her major mainstream breakthrough the following year.
Following her appointment as the new captain of Rancho Carne High’s cheerleading team, the Toros, Torrence Shipman’s (Kirsten Dunst) world comes crashing down as she realises that all of the team’s award-winning routines have been stolen from the East Compton Clovers, a rival team that have never competed at the same level as Rancho Carne due to their financial difficulties.
Desperate to make things right, Torrence and new recruit Missy (Eliza Dushku) try to do whatever they can to create a new routine ready for the national competitions, as well as try to help the Clovers in whatever way they can in the hopes that it might redeem the Toros past thievery.
Bring It On is a film that came to my attention around a decade ago when I started university. It wasn’t something that was on my radar at all, and then once I was a part of a university sports team it was just kind of part of the lexicon of that group. But I’ve heard the film quoted to death in the same manner as 2004’s Mean Girls, so I had a vague idea of what I was getting myself into here and my expectations were high.
Whilst Bring It On, for me, isn’t in the same league as Mean Girls, I did have a good time with it, and unlike sentiments from critics at the time I don’t think the film was hampered by its decision to aim for a more family friendly demographic.
That is the biggest problem I’ve read that people had with the film at the time. That it ditched the crude and overtly sexual humour typical of the genre to get a PG-13 rating and be more family friendly as a result. I really don’t see this as a negative. The way characters communicate with each other is done so dynamically and with such energy that whilst it might seem that crude humour may have originally been in place, it’s really not losing anything by cutting it out. In fact, to me it seems like this is where Mean Girls took a lot of its inspiration from, fast paced and kind of brutal in places. It’s an accurate representation of how teens talk to each other, just without any f-words.
Following her appointment as the new captain of Rancho Carne High’s cheerleading team, the Toros, Torrence Shipman’s (Kirsten Dunst) world comes crashing down as she realises that all of the team’s award-winning routines have been stolen from the East Compton Clovers, a rival team that have never competed at the same level as Rancho Carne due to their financial difficulties.
Desperate to make things right, Torrence and new recruit Missy (Eliza Dushku) try to do whatever they can to create a new routine ready for the national competitions, as well as try to help the Clovers in whatever way they can in the hopes that it might redeem the Toros past thievery.
Bring It On is a film that came to my attention around a decade ago when I started university. It wasn’t something that was on my radar at all, and then once I was a part of a university sports team it was just kind of part of the lexicon of that group. But I’ve heard the film quoted to death in the same manner as 2004’s Mean Girls, so I had a vague idea of what I was getting myself into here and my expectations were high.
Whilst Bring It On, for me, isn’t in the same league as Mean Girls, I did have a good time with it, and unlike sentiments from critics at the time I don’t think the film was hampered by its decision to aim for a more family friendly demographic.
That is the biggest problem I’ve read that people had with the film at the time. That it ditched the crude and overtly sexual humour typical of the genre to get a PG-13 rating and be more family friendly as a result. I really don’t see this as a negative. The way characters communicate with each other is done so dynamically and with such energy that whilst it might seem that crude humour may have originally been in place, it’s really not losing anything by cutting it out. In fact, to me it seems like this is where Mean Girls took a lot of its inspiration from, fast paced and kind of brutal in places. It’s an accurate representation of how teens talk to each other, just without any f-words.
I have to say I like the reverse underdog story approach. Telling the story of a team that’s already at the top of their game, only to get progressively knocked off their perch by their up-and-coming new rivals. It forces Torrence to be proactive in solving the problem, she’s an active role in the story and shapes the course of the narrative so definitively, which can’t be said about a lot of teen comedy protagonists.
Dunst is excellent in the role too. Whilst she’d definitely caught the attention of audiences a few times before, she’d arguably never been in a film that had this kind of mainstream appeal before, and she’d also never had a leading role. She really flexes her acting muscles way more than she has any right to for this kind of film, and that’s no bad thing as the result is a character that you really root for. You want her to succeed, and that’s what makes Bring It On so engaging, and also what makes the ending so powerful.
The film also handles race issues and homosexuality in surprisingly progressive ways. The Clovers are an all-black team, and so aren’t afforded the same benefits that the Toros get who are an all-white team. The whole idea of them being an inherently more talented team that simply aren’t given the option of attending national championships because they come from a poor area is something really great to be seen being explored in a film of this era, especially in something that’s not a hard-hitting drama that sets its sights on racial inequality. In fact, it’s rare to see stuff like that now nearly a quarter of a century later.
It's also practically unheard of at the time, and very rare to see even now, characters that are comfortable with their homosexuality but not an overtly queer stereotype. The character of Les (Huntley Ritter) is often teased for being a male cheerleader by the football team, but he gives it back to them even harder whilst being totally comfortable with his sexuality. It’s really empowering to see a character like that. Similarly the other male cheerleader, Jan (Nathan West) is straight and must battle the stereotype that he’s gay, but not in a way that he’s disgusted by the idea of it as would be the easy and most common option for writers to choose, but more in a way of he wishes people could understand that just because he does a sport that’s female dominated doesn’t automatically make him gay, and in fact part of the reason why he does it is so that he can easily talk to and hang out with women he deems attractive.
It's not a perfect teen comedy. I don’t always feel like the jokes landed that well, I don’t feel like we get to understand the dynamic of Rancho Carne High in any way as would be the norm for this genre, and I could live without the romance triangle Torrence is put into with her college boyfriend Aaron (Richard Hillman), and Missy’s brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford). But it does consistently nail elements of both teen comedies and sports films.
In fact, the cheerleading dance sequences are really nicely put together. I do wish we’d get to see more of them considering how complex they are. But what we do get to see is excellent. The choreography and execution are on point, it’s borderline a dance film at several points.
Bring It On evokes a lot of the best qualities of the nineties teen comedies whilst also making it more accessible to families and younger audiences. It also presents some great and meaningful representation of marginalised groups which was incredibly rare from films at the time. It’s all tied together with a well written story that’s driven by an excellent leading performance from Dunst. It may not be one of my favourite teen comedies ever, but I can certainly see why people love it so much. Do I dare take a look at the straight to home video sequels? Bring It On!
Dunst is excellent in the role too. Whilst she’d definitely caught the attention of audiences a few times before, she’d arguably never been in a film that had this kind of mainstream appeal before, and she’d also never had a leading role. She really flexes her acting muscles way more than she has any right to for this kind of film, and that’s no bad thing as the result is a character that you really root for. You want her to succeed, and that’s what makes Bring It On so engaging, and also what makes the ending so powerful.
The film also handles race issues and homosexuality in surprisingly progressive ways. The Clovers are an all-black team, and so aren’t afforded the same benefits that the Toros get who are an all-white team. The whole idea of them being an inherently more talented team that simply aren’t given the option of attending national championships because they come from a poor area is something really great to be seen being explored in a film of this era, especially in something that’s not a hard-hitting drama that sets its sights on racial inequality. In fact, it’s rare to see stuff like that now nearly a quarter of a century later.
It's also practically unheard of at the time, and very rare to see even now, characters that are comfortable with their homosexuality but not an overtly queer stereotype. The character of Les (Huntley Ritter) is often teased for being a male cheerleader by the football team, but he gives it back to them even harder whilst being totally comfortable with his sexuality. It’s really empowering to see a character like that. Similarly the other male cheerleader, Jan (Nathan West) is straight and must battle the stereotype that he’s gay, but not in a way that he’s disgusted by the idea of it as would be the easy and most common option for writers to choose, but more in a way of he wishes people could understand that just because he does a sport that’s female dominated doesn’t automatically make him gay, and in fact part of the reason why he does it is so that he can easily talk to and hang out with women he deems attractive.
It's not a perfect teen comedy. I don’t always feel like the jokes landed that well, I don’t feel like we get to understand the dynamic of Rancho Carne High in any way as would be the norm for this genre, and I could live without the romance triangle Torrence is put into with her college boyfriend Aaron (Richard Hillman), and Missy’s brother Cliff (Jesse Bradford). But it does consistently nail elements of both teen comedies and sports films.
In fact, the cheerleading dance sequences are really nicely put together. I do wish we’d get to see more of them considering how complex they are. But what we do get to see is excellent. The choreography and execution are on point, it’s borderline a dance film at several points.
Bring It On evokes a lot of the best qualities of the nineties teen comedies whilst also making it more accessible to families and younger audiences. It also presents some great and meaningful representation of marginalised groups which was incredibly rare from films at the time. It’s all tied together with a well written story that’s driven by an excellent leading performance from Dunst. It may not be one of my favourite teen comedies ever, but I can certainly see why people love it so much. Do I dare take a look at the straight to home video sequels? Bring It On!