Fired Up (**)

Directed By: Will Gluck
Starring: Nicholas D’Agosto, Eric Christian Olsen, Sarah Roemer, Molly Sims, Danneel Harris, David Walton, John Michael Higgins, Masi Oka
Seen: August 20th 2009

** Out of ****

I’m probably more generous that I should be with this particular movie – but I was in a frame of mind that called for a film like this. It is not good or profound or original, and it doesn’t even have much to offer by way of a life lesson, but it is pure brain-dead fun. The catch phrase for the movie reads: “2 Guys. 300 Girls. You do the Math.” And that is just about what the movie is about, nothing more, nothing less. The movie does not pretend to be more than it is, and it does not aspire to be anything else than the silly college comedy it is.

Shawn (D’Agosto) and Nick (Olsen) started playing football years earlier to become popular jocks, i.e. to get the girls. Nick cannot remember girls’ names if he’s already been with them. Shawn is much the same, but he has a slightly clearer set of muddy morals. Upon hearing that their football camp will be in a deserted part of Texas, the two decide to rather become cheerleaders and go with them to cheerleading camp – where there is more girls, for two weeks, and then ditch them to return to the football team for their annual smash-up at one of the players’ rich dad’s home.

On the way to the credits the movie introduces quite a few side characters, who rarely fail to be entertaining (even if only marginally) while the two main characters take on everything in their stride. Nick becomes interested in Carly (Roemer), who is dating Rick (Walton), who calls himself Dr. Rick even though he is pre-med (he sees no need in delaying the inevitable). Of course he is the worst kind of bastard and Carly doesn’t see this, so it becomes Nick’s side quest to overcome this hurdle to get the girl. Shawn is the no-morals anything goes kind of guy who falls for Diora (Sims), the wife of Coach Keith (Higgins), who is the cheerleading camp facilitator. A male cheerleading camp facilitator must however be very gay looking and acting, and again there is no disappointment if you were expecting straight clichés to come flying off the screen.

There is the super gay camp roommate, the hundreds of hot chicks (it seems America does not have any problems with obesity), the stupidly competitive opposition team, the Panthers, and some of the bitchy repartee you’d come to expect when these teams are faced with each other. The humour is quite innocuous, but quite a few pretty crude references make their way into the dialogue, some almost going a bit too far.

The movie is really nothing new, but it can still be enjoyed if you are in the right frame of mind. And as far as cheerleading movies go – I’ve tried, on its word-of-mouth reputation, to watch Bring it On. Four times. And I’ve never reached the 15-minute mark. Ever. It was so disturbingly brain-dead that I simply could not ever get myself to not stop the movie. It fried my brain with its pure stupidity. Fired Up I could watch however, and that surely counts in its favour. I laughed quite a few times during its running time, never felt that this was a waste of time, and walked out of the cinema in a good mood, which sometimes is all you want from a movie.