February 21, 2009
Review - " Fired Up! " - (in Theaters) By Roland Hansen
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Fired Up! (Sony Pictures)
Directed By: Will Glick
Starring: Nicholas D'Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, Molly Sims,
Juliette Goglia, John Michael Higgins
I went to "Fired Up!" expecting to see a lame silly comedy but instead I saw an
incredibly funny silly comedy. "Fired Up!" is an entertaining vulgar movie that
could have been even better given an R-rating, but as it is, shows a lot more
Wedding Crashers than it does Bring It On.
Shawn ( Nicholas D'Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen), the stars of Gerald
R Ford High School football team, are dreading the prospect of another
grueling summer at football camp. When Nick hatches a scheme for the two of
them to join their schools cheerleaders at cheer camp instead, they find
themselves awash in a sea of gorgeous young women. It all goes great until
Shawn falls for Carly (Sarah Roemer) their squads beautiful head cheerleader
who sees right through them. When Carly gets wise to their plan, and Shawn
quickly falls for the hard-shelled beauty, both will learn that when it comes to
love, well...maybe no valuable life lessons will be obtained, but somehow
everything will turn out okay.
We are introduced to Shawn and Nick as athletic womanizers, checking out the
woman in the stands more than the play-clock on the field during a Spring
scrimmage. These two are the kind of guys who don't need practice, they are
natural talents doing it for the notoriety and popularity rather than the love of the game. We even get treated to seeing them
in contact with girls at school, the not so pretty ones who you think they will bash, but instead find out are ex-girlfriends. You
are surprised at how they aren't just into the "prom queens", but also sets up the stark contrast to the hoards of model
types they cross paths with at cheer camp. An extended tracking shot through gyrating girls, stretching and showing off
their tramp stamps as the camera loops around back to the boys, shows the paradise they have landed in.
There is a remarkable amount of clever and inventive sexual metaphors, and a few eccentric characters that mask the
lackluster stereotypical ones. The main protagonists provide an excellent anchor for the hijinks that ensue, and while their
character arcs progress expectedly, it neither detracts from the bawdy, immature humor exhibited nor reduces the quantity
of scantily clad cheerleaders parading about. Maybe it's a shame that one can predict the course of the film twenty minutes
in, but the story really isn't that important; it's merely a means to an end. And that end is often displayed in short
cheerleading skirts.
The bread and butter of Fired Up! is the supporting cast. D'Agosto and Olsen do their job and Sarah Roemer is pouty and
beautiful like usual, but it's the bit roles that make this film work as often as it does. The one-liners from Margo Harshman,
(Tawney from "Even Stevens"), the surreal Juliette Goglia as Poppy, and John Michael Higgins' cheer camp maestro
can only be beat by one man — Brewster. Adhir Kalyan's flamboyant, Calcutta-raised "chick" is a riot and he definitely steals
pretty much every frame he is in. I also don't want to fail to mention a fun soundtrack playing a role as well, and not just
because of Dr. Dick's jams either.
This is about as typical as a teen comedy can get, with a formulaic story that never deviates from absolutely predictable.
But for all of its shortcomings in originality, a few scenes and characters truly are hilarious. Plus, hearing little children curse
never seems to get old. Fired Up!'s humor is based almost entirely on dialogue, granted there are the typical awkward
physical gags, but the verbal jokes create the main course of hilarity. Even though the film is PG-13, the R-rated intent is
evident - every curse word is simply substituted for either creative nonsense, or less severe lingo. "Biscuits," "Nutter Butter,"
"fresh produce" and all sorts of jargon are used to replace naughtier verbiage - including Nick's realization that he can use
"true feelings to wrangle snooch." And the cheesy analogies aren't half bad. Every sentence feels like a bad pick-up line,
riddled with sarcasm, innuendo and a hopeless tongue-in-cheek presentation. There are many moments where the lines are
executed hilariously making it vastly entertaining. You can't forget a classic moment of "Bring It On" playing on the big screen
to the entire camp, or the fact that EVERY single person knew the script by heart. Hearing 300 voices, in-sync, talking over
Kirsten Dunst and Elisha Dushku is a scary proposition. I also found some entertainment value in the subtleties surrounding
the cheer squad’s closet lesbian (Danneel Harris) who has a crush on Angela (played by Hayley Marie Norman). I still
wonder how many people in the audience actually caught her rubbing her face on Norman’s rear end after she fell during a
cheer trick in practice, but by the end of the film you would have to be asleep to miss the handful of ass she is taking home
with her.
"Fired Up!" delivers consistent laughs. The script is a riot of tongue-twisting ironic sleaze. You can never go into a film like
this expecting too much because it will always manage to disappoint, but if you go into them expecting the same-old
same-old they can surprise you every so often. This film is by no means a revelation, but I at least had a good time while I
watched it, which is all you can really ask for from a film of this ilk.
Given the hundreds of
simply gorgeous busty
cheerleaders at cheer
camp it is indeed a shame
that you will have to walk
outof this one.
An R rating would have
been most appreciated and
could only have served to
make this movie even
better.
Of course "Fired Up!" isn't
really about the sex, it's
about the laughs.