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Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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Fired Up Stars: Eric Christian Olsen, Nicholas D'Agosto, Sarah Roemer, Molly Sims, Philip Baker Hall and Amber Stevens Director: Will Gluck Scriptwriter: Freedom Jones Screen Gems Rating: PG 13 for crude and sexual content, partial nudity, language and teen partying Running Time: 90 minutes What I thought would be another run-of-the-mill film about high school football jocks, starts out being that, but turns into something bordering on---as much as it can---sensitivity of guys toward gals? There, I said it. The language is crude, almost every opportunity for a sexual innuendo is used, cheerleading and camp costumes are skimpy to put it mildly, and the adults are clueless. Shawn (Nicholas D'Agosto) and Nick (Eric Christian Olsen) are two football players who don't want to go to summer football camp with the rest of the team. They decide to go to cheerleading camp, instead, figuring that the girls are just so anxious to meet them. Besides,cheerleading looks easy, they think, just throw and catch, right? It's when they arrive at camp, to the disgust of Carly (Sarah Roemer) head cheerleader of their school and who sees right through them, that they begin to see the effort that goes into training, the elaborate footwork and competition between high schools. Their team, the Tigers, has always gotten last place, and the black-suited Panthers, have gotten first place. Nothing like a challenge, and the guys begin to work out with the girls. Nick is trying to date everyone in sight, but falls for the coach's wife (Molly Sims) and Shawn falls for tough Carly. Suspense builds until the final tournament and intricate routines. Some of the scenes are humorous especially those with the football team and their antics, and the mascots so into their role that they never speak or take their costumes off. Philip Baker Hall is the boy's coach at home and he peppers his speeches with four-letter words at an alarming rate. The coach at cheerleading camp is the opposite with a lighter approach. One defining moment is when the guys go back to football camp, thinking they aren't helping the cheerleaders. The players are running around spraying themselves with whipped cream, while our guys sit in the kitchen trying out a new salad dressing concocted by one of the cheerleaders who wants to go to cooking school. It is then that Nick declares, "I can see it. I care, actually care about what happens to a girl!" (Eureka, light bulb over head). The camera momentarily settles on cheerleader after cheerleader and we get an idea of who they are. There is Shawn's little sister, a budding entrepreneur at thirteen who strikes a business deal with a major company, another cheerleader who comes in with the right comment at the right time ending with, "I was just saying...," and Carly's boyfriend, the future doctor, who tells people not to come to him if they don't have insurance. The Panthers, who dress like something from a science fiction film, also have their moments. This group would frighten the team instead of cheer them on. All in all, Fired Up (and the first letters of each word form the initials of the cheer leading camp) had enough energy (no one stands still at all) for almost 90 minutes, enough story line (more or less) to keep one's interest, enough handsome guys and pretty girls for the audience, and two guys who know the meaning of the word "friendship." The out-takes at the end of the film are very good. Copyright 2009 Marie Asner
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