Stick It!

First off lets just face it Stick It! is the best title of the year. As a movie it's good right up until the end. I love Bring It On and the fact that this movie was written by the same person, Jessica Bendinger, really added to my wanting to see it. I would have seen it even if that wasn't the case because I have been a fan of the sport of gymnastics for years. Sadly though while a perfectly good writer I don't believe she was at all the right person to direct it. It was clear pretty early on that she didn't have the talent to direct the gymnastics routines. Also where it seemed she had a great grasp of cheerleading, by comparison she seemed to have very little grasp of gymnastics. We'll get to that in a minute.

The cast was pretty good. Jeff Bridges was fun as the coach Burt Vickerman. Although it seemed like the script and even the directing was afraid to make him a real coach. I'm not saying he needed to be a dictator but I think he could have had a little more edge to him. Missy Peregrym as the lead character Haley Graham was really good. I know her from a show on The WB three years ago called Black Sash and I knew then that given the chance this girl could really be something. They had me scared for awhile that she wasn't going to get a big emotional moment. I was very happy when she did and she did not disappoint. The supporting cast of gymnasts were good and they brought the comedy that they needed to bring.

The movie was enjoyable although not as strong or clever as Bring It On right up to the end that is. The ending was pretty lame and really pissed me off. Some of the dialogue in the end segment showed how much Jessica didn't know about the sport. I really tried to be open to the movie and not pick at the stuff that wasn't right but, once they went with such a bad ending I wasn't playing nice anymore. Not only was the ending an insult to the sport, it was an insult to the audience and the movie. How is that possible you ask. It simply was the wrong ending. While the ending was moderately amusing the reason it's so bad is that it was the ending to an entirely different movie. The ending was not the one the belonged with the movie they had made to that point.


Spoilers Alert:


Okay so lets point out one of the most obvious things that was wrong with the gymnastics part of this movie. In the first event that they go to they show the team event which if fine problem is no matter what apparatus they are on there is no music in the background. So unbelievably wrong. Except for event finals all apparatus are being used at the sametime this means that very rarely will a person go through a routine without someone's floor music playing in the background.

In event finals of nationals not only are the vault judges on the wrong side of the vault they are on the floor and too far down. Judges are always up on the podium. The first girls vault that starts the bad ending score was so stupid. First off I've never heard of the no undergarmet rule but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it probably does. However, it would only be a tenth of a point, and while the girl wouldn't have gotten a 10 even without that rule her score wouldn't have been a 9.5. The reason this pissed me off so much is it clearly goes back to Athens when all hell broke lose with the judging particularly in event finals (and really with the men). The problem is at this point the movie became and unfair indictment of the sport and it's scoring. And the reason that's a problem is that there is an overseeing judge who is suppose to have the spine to check the judges marks and make sure they aren't abusing the rules.

Also lets just point out that the dialogue says there is 4 judges per apparatus. This is wrong. Last I checked under the old scoring system there are 6 judges per apparatus with the high and low ones being thrown out and the remaining scores being averaged.

Here's why the ending really made me mad. At no point did they set up the movie to be about the fact that the judging can be unfair. Nope not at all was it ever indicated that the reason Haley left the sport was judging. Infact in the scene when Haley breaks down as she is leaving yet another competition she tells Burt that she walked out on worlds and gymnastics because it tore her family apart. More to the point her coach and mother started having an affair and that tore her family apart.

Then thanks to Burt she decides to give the sport one more chance. She even makes a point of telling him that she won't do cookie cutter routines. That she wants to push the envelope. Well if you push the envelope in gymnastics, contrary to the movies belief, you are rewarded as long as you do it clean. This is where you know the director wasn't up to the task. If you are going to go through the trouble of having your lead make that kind of point to the coach you need to show those routines. Only then when they get to event finals and someone gets screwed on a score the movie suddenly becomes something different. The end of the movie should have been about her trying to redeem herself and finding a love for the sport again. Really it wouldn't have been so infuriating if the movie had been set up for the ending it had. But, the movie they made deserved a different ending.

Basically the ending seemed to be designed to aid the directors in ability to direct the movie. Even routines that were shown were bad and simple. When Haley was shown doing her floor routine you saw her doing more dancing than gymnastics. Trust me there are plenty of gymnasts out there that could have been brought in to do the gymnastics.

Also there is a moment in the movie when Burt is arguing with a judge about a bar score. The judge tells him that she isn't going to reward the athlete for being dangerous and encourage other people to do dangerous routines. What a crock. This moment alone showed Jessica's lack of comprehension of the sport. Every four years the code of points is changed making is so both men and women have to do harder and more dangerous routines just to have a competitive start value.

And don't even get me started on how ashamed Tim Daggett should be of some of the dialogue he agreed to say.



For me because of Jeff and Missy and the movie it was until the last 20-30 minutes it was totally worth full price. However, most people probably shouldn't pay more than matinee price.